[Request for Reconsideration]

A firm requested reconsideration of a decision which dismissed its protest of the rejection of its bid submitted in response to an invitation for bids issued by the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps found that the protester was not a responsible prospective contractor, and the Small Business Administration (SBA) declined to issue a Certificate of Competency (COC). The protest was denied because GAO will not question an SBA decision unless there is a showing of fraud or bad faith on the part of Government officials or SBA. In requesting reconsideration, the protester stated that: (1) SBA supposedly based one reason for its denial of a COC on information obtained from a proposed subcontractor, but the subcontractor stated that it was never contacted by SBA; (2) it anticipated that the Corps would find it responsible to perform another contract, an action inconsistent with the rejection; and (3) the Corps awarded the contract to a firm which was behind schedule in completing a similar project. GAO held that: (1) the protester failed to show that SBA erred in obtaining information from the subcontractor; (2) because a protester is found not to be a responsible performer of one contract does not preclude a subsequent determination to the contrary; and (3) recent unsatisfactory performance of a contract does not automatically result in a determination that a bidder is nonresponsible. Accordingly, the prior decision was affirmed.