[Protest of Army Contract Award]

A firm protested the award of a contract issued by the Army under an invitation for bids for a quantity of batteries. The protester alleged that it submitted the low bid, but that the Army erroneously applied the Buy American Act differential to its bid which displaced it as the low bidder. The protester alleged that its product was covered by a memorandum of agreement between Israel and the United States, which waived the application of the Buy American Act. While this protest was pending with GAO, the protester also filed suit in a U.S. District Court seeking permanent injunctive relief. GAO will not consider a protest where the material issues are before a court of competent jurisdiction and the protester has not requested that the court seek a GAO opinion on the matter before it, and the court has not otherwise expressed interest in receiving a GAO opinion. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.