[Protest Against Interior Contract Extension]

A firm protested a National Park Service (NPS) contract amendment which added the sale of performance tickets for an amphitheatre to the contract requirement for campsite reservation services. The protester argued that: (1) NPS was required to conduct a competition for the added services; (2) ticket sales were outside the scope of the original contract; and (3) since the awardee's original contract had expired, NPS could not retroactively extend the term of that contract and add other services by an amendment issued more than 4 months later. GAO has held that where Congress has authorized the collection or receipt of certain funds by an agency and has specified or limited the purposes of those funds, the authorization constitutes an appropriation, and protests arising from procurements involving such funds are subject to its review. GAO found that: (1) the attempted retroactive extension of the contract was improper and constituted a de facto sole source award; (2) the protester was entitled to recover the costs of filing and pursuing its protest since NPS unreasonably excluded it from the procurement; and (3) the awardee's contract should be terminated and the requirement for the services should be satisfied through a competitive procurement. Accordingly, the protest was sustained.