[Protest of Sole-Source Air Force Contract Award]

A firm protested an Air Force sole-source contract award, contending that one of its products was compatible with the computer system being solicited and that the Air Force should have broken out that portion of the contract for competitive procurement. GAO has held that an agency may procure, as a part of a sole-source procurement, a divisible component for which there might be competition, if the agency has a reasonable basis for doing so. In this case, the Air Force failed to present any basis for not breaking out the portion of the contract for competition and implicitly agreed that there was no such basis when it stated that the protester should be permitted to compete for the requirement in the future. Accordingly, the protest was sustained, and GAO concurred with the Air Force decision to compete future requirements since remedial action under the protested purchase order was not possible.