[Request for Reconsideration of Dismissed Protest of SBA COC Determination]

A firm requested reconsideration of its dismissed protest against the Small Business Administration's (SBA) refusal to consider its certificate of competency (COC) application. GAO had held that the protester failed to show that SBA acted in bad faith or fraudulently in its determination that the protester was bidding as a nonmanufacturing concern offering nondomestic end items. In its request for reconsideration, the protester contended that: (1) its qualification as a manufacturer under the Walsh-Healey Act precluded any requirements to domestically produce the end items; (2) it met COC eligibility requirements; and (3) SBA should have only concerned itself with the specific responsibility issue the contracting agency raised. GAO held that: (1) the protester's qualifications concerned the contracting agency and SBA; (2) the protester failed to show that SBA acted in bad faith or fraudulently in its determination; and (3) SBA properly conducted an independent evaluation of the protester's COC eligibility. Accordingly, the original dismissal was affirmed.