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Request for Reconsideration

B-201395.2 May 06, 1982
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Highlights

An association requested reconsideration of a prior decision which denied its protest that the Brooks Act procurement procedures should have been used under a request for proposals (RFP) issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA). RFP was for centrifuge testing of model pile group foundations. In its request, the protester stated that RFP specifically estimated the hours of geotechnical engineering that would be needed. The protester argued that mechanical and electrical engineering were needed to perform the contract. In addition, the protester contended that Maryland statutes relative to engineering provide that only a licensed engineer may offer to perform engineering services. Therefore, the protester argued that the decision should have been that the Brooks Act procedures applied to this procurement. This was a contract for research which FHwA required to further its highway program. The act provides that government contracts for architectural or engineering (A-E) services shall be negotiated in accordance with the procedure set forth in the act. This procedure was not applicable in procuring a research contract, where it was unnecessary for the contractor itself to be a professional engineering firm to successfully perform the contract even though the contractor was expected to use engineers. Regarding the protester's argument that only licensed engineers may perform the service, GAO concluded that the contracting agency, within the bounds of sound judgment, is free to decide that a particular award need not be restricted to professional engineering firms, even if the specifications call for the use of engineers. If the agency determines that a contract should be restricted to A-E firms, the Brooks Act selection procedure must be used. Accordingly, the prior decision was affirmed.

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