[Protest of GSA Contract Award]
Highlights
A firm protested a General Services Administration (GSA) contract award, complaining that it received no consideration for its status as a minority-owned business. The protester also asserted that the awardee might not be able to meet the time performance requirements and that the contract would be better performed by making multiple awards. GAO held that: (1) since the solicitation did not provide that a preference be given to minority businesses, it would have been improper to award the protester the preference requested; (2) the awardee's ability to perform concerned its responsibility, which GAO would only have questioned had the protester alleged fraud or bad faith on the part of the procuring officer; and (3) the argument that multiple awards should have been made was without merit. Accordingly, the protest was summarily denied in part and dismissed in part.