[Protest of Army Corps of Engineers Rejection of Bid for Construction]

A firm protested the Army Corps of Engineers' rejection of its bid for storage system construction, contending that the Corps failed to: (1) provide it adequate opportunity to establish its individual sureties' financial capability; and (2) refer the matter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for certificate-of-competency (COC) consideration. GAO held that the Corps: (1) reasonably rejected the bid after allowing the protester 2 months to establish its sureties' responsibility; and (2) did not have to refer the matter to SBA, since SBA considered only small business bidders, not their sureties, for COC. Accordingly, the protest was denied.