[Protest of Navy Contract Award for Stern Tube Seal Assemblies]

A firm protested a Navy contract award for stern tube seal assemblies, contending that: (1) the awardee's seal did not meet the solicitation specification that the Navy must approve a seal's design; and (2) because the seal did not meet a particular performance requirement, it could not have been retested prior to the proposal due date. GAO held that: (1) since the awardee's proposal complied with the solicitation requirements and the solicitation did not require that the seals pass the tests, the agency had no basis to reject it; (2) the contention that the solicitation should have required preaward testing was untimely since regulations require that any protest of an alleged solicitation impropriety apparent prior to bid closing must be filed prior to that date; (3) it would not consider a protest against affirmative determinations of responsibility absent a showing that the determination was made fraudulently or in bad faith, or that the solicitation contained definitive responsibility criteria that were not applied; and (4) whether the seals actually conformed to the performance requirement involved a matter of contract administration which was the responsibility of the procuring agency. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed in part and denied in part.