[Requests for Reconsideration of Various Decisions Concerning GSA Contract Awards]

Two firms and the General Services Administration (GSA) requested reconsideration of decisions which dismissed various protests of contract awards for the arrangement of travel services because GAO had found that the awards were exempt from procurement statutes. Upon reconsideration, GAO found that consideration of those protests that were timely would be appropriate under its bid protest authority as newly defined by the Competition in Contracting Act. Two protesters questioned one contract award, contending that: (1) the awardee lacked contractual capacity; (2) the awardee was not responsible; and (3) the technical proposal evaluation was erroneous. GAO: (1) found that, as a joint venture, the awardee was a legal entity; (2) will not review an affirmative determination of responsibility where there is no showing of possible fraud or bad faith and no allegation that definitive responsibility criteria have not been applied; (3) found that no improper discussions were held; and (4) found that GSA did not abuse its discretion as to how many evaluation panel members reviewed the proposals. However, GAO determined that, because the awardee's proposal was not properly rated in a number of evaluation areas, the GSA award selection may have been incorrect. Therefore, GAO recommended: (1) reevaluation of the proposals; and (2) contract termination and award to the highest ranked bidder if the awardee is not the highest ranked bidder. GAO found that a protest against another GSA award, contending that the agency was biased against the protester was untimely since it was filed more than 10 working days after knowledge of adverse agency action. In a third protest, GAO found that: (1) GSA was justified in proceeding with a contract award while the Small Business Administration (SBA) was determining the size status of the awardee; and (2) there was no evidence that the awardee's small business self-certification was not made in good faith. However, GAO found that, since SBA determined that the awardee did not qualify as a small business for the procurement, its contract options should not be exercised. Accordingly, the protests were denied in part, dismissed in part, and sustained in part.