[Request for Reconsideration of Decision Concerning DLA Procurement]

The Small Business Administration (SBA) requested reconsideration of a decision which held that, while there was no small purchase exception from the requirement that a procuring agency submit a small business nonresponsibility determination to SBA for consideration under its certificate of competency (COC) procedures, the nonreferral at issue was not prejudicial to the protester because SBA had denied three recent COC referrals from the procuring agency concerning the protester. In its request for reconsideration, SBA contended that: (1) procuring agencies are required to refer all nonresponsibility determinations to SBA for final disposition; and (2) agencies may interpret the original decision as providing an exception to the requirements. GAO stated that: (1) regulations prohibit any exception from the requirement for referral of small business nonresponsibility determinations to SBA for COC consideration; (2) the decision did not sanction the nonreferral or construe the prior cases as establishing COC referral exemptions or waiver authority; and (3) the procuring agency did not intend to use the decision as a basis for not referring nonresponsibility determinations to SBA where a particular concern was recently denied a COC. Accordingly, the prior decision was affirmed.