Allegation That Awardee Is Incompetent

Two companies protested the Department of the Army's referral to the Small Business Administration (SBA) of the question of the competency of the awardee company, a small business, to perform the requirements of an invitation for bids for hospital housekeeping services. The protesters also questioned the SBA rationale for finding the awardee to be competent for the procurement. The protest was denied for the following reasons. Compliance with special experience requirements affected the responsibility of the bidder and not the responsiveness of a submitted bid; hence referral to SBA was appropriate under certificate of competency (COC) procedure. A statement by the representative of a small business concern that the concern did not meet the minimum experience requirements did not excuse referral of the question of the bidder's compliance with requirements to SBA under COC procedure. GAO perceived no denial of procedural fairness in the protest against the COC decision, notwithstanding the refusal by SBA to disclose to protesters the specific rationale for the decision. The GAO review standard concerning a protest of the issuance of a COC involving compliance with special experience requirements is limited to fraud on the part of SBA or to the failure of SBA to consider vital information. Since the protesters' arguments were concerned with information which was on record before SBA and because the protesters did not show fraud on the part of SBA, GAO could not question SBA issuance of the COC or the agency's concurrence in the issuance.