[Protest of BIA Contract Award for Road Paving]

A firm protested a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) contract award for road paving, contending that: (1) BIA should have rejected the awardee's bid, since the awardee did not qualify as a 51-percent Indian-owned firm; (2) BIA improperly redefined an Indian-owned firm from 100-percent owned to 51-percent owned without following mandatory rulemaking procedures; and (3) GAO should consider its protest, if untimely, as raising a significant issue. GAO held that the protester: (1) failed to show that the BIA eligibility determination was unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law or regulation; (2) untimely filed after bid opening its protest regarding alleged solicitation improprieties; and (3) did not raise issues of widespread interest to the procurement community which would warrant invoking an exception to the timeliness rules. Accordingly, the protest was denied in part and dismissed in part.