B-248061, B-248063, May 21, 1992
Highlights
PROCUREMENT - Bid Protests - GAO procedures - Purposes - Competition enhancement DIGEST: Protest that agency should make specification more restrictive is dismissed since the role of the General Accounting Office in resolving bid protests is to ensure that the statutory requirements for full and open competition in the award of government contracts are met. Not to protect any interest a protester may have in more restrictive specifications. Fike-certified technician before the system will be returned to service. The purpose of the General Accounting Office's role in resolving bid protests is to ensure that the statutory requirements for full and open competition in the award of government contracts are met.
B-248061, B-248063, May 21, 1992
PROCUREMENT - Bid Protests - GAO procedures - Purposes - Competition enhancement DIGEST: Protest that agency should make specification more restrictive is dismissed since the role of the General Accounting Office in resolving bid protests is to ensure that the statutory requirements for full and open competition in the award of government contracts are met, not to protect any interest a protester may have in more restrictive specifications. Theodore M. Bailey, Esq., Law Office of Ronald J. Shaw, P.C., for the protester. Joseph M. Goldstein, Esq., and Michael A. Rodgers, Esq., Department of the Air Force, for the agency. Barbara C. Coles, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision.
Seso Halon Systems:
Seso Halon Systems protests the specifications under a request for quotations (RFQ) issued by the Department of the Air Force for maintenance of a fire suppression system. Seso Halon argues that the solicitation should be revised to require that all repairs and service be performed by an authorized representative of the manufacturer of the fire suppression system.
We dismiss the protest.
The RFQ, issued on March 17, 1992, contemplated the award of a firm, fixed-price contract for the inspection and maintenance of the Fike Corporation Halon 1301 Fire Suppression System. The RFQ required the contractor's maintenance technicians to be certified and/or licensed as required by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), the state of Texas, and the city of San Antonio fire codes and regulations. The RFQ also stated that all repairs to the system must be inspected by a factory- trained, Fike-certified technician before the system will be returned to service.
Seso Halon contends that in order to insure that the fire suppression system operates properly, the Air Force should require that all repairs be made by Fike-certified technicians instead of only requiring that all repairs be inspected by factory-trained, Fike certified technicians.
The purpose of the General Accounting Office's role in resolving bid protests is to ensure that the statutory requirements for full and open competition in the award of government contracts are met, not to protect any interest a protester may have in more restrictive specifications. Cryptek, Inc., B-240369, Nov. 1, 1990, 90-2 CPD Para. 357; Petchem Inc., B-228093, Sept. 8, 1987, 87-2 CPD Para. 228.
Our Office therefore will not review a protest, such as Seso Halon's, that an agency should have drafted additional, more restrictive specifications in order to meet the protester's definition of the agency's minimum needs. Cryptek, Inc., supra.
The protest is dismissed.