B-236240.2, Dec 15, 1989, 89-2 CPD 556

B-236240.2: Dec 15, 1989

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PROCUREMENT - Contract Management - Contract administration - Contract terms - Compliance - GAO review DIGEST: Protest that contractor is not complying with subcontracting limitations in its contract is dismissed because the allegation involves a contract administration matter which is not for consideration by General Accounting Office under its bid protest function. Forestry Association contends that Stacey Harris is ineligible for contract award because the firm illegally employs its personnel as subcontractors. Forestry Association earlier protested the award of the contract to Stacey Harris on the basis that the awardee was not responsible because it intended to employ its personnel as independent contractors in order to avoid various requirements.

B-236240.2, Dec 15, 1989, 89-2 CPD 556

PROCUREMENT - Contract Management - Contract administration - Contract terms - Compliance - GAO review DIGEST: Protest that contractor is not complying with subcontracting limitations in its contract is dismissed because the allegation involves a contract administration matter which is not for consideration by General Accounting Office under its bid protest function.

The Forestry Association, Inc.:

The Forestry Association, Inc., the second-low bidder, protests the award of a contract to Stacey Harris and Associates under invitation for bids (IFB) No. R3-89-18, issued by the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, for timber stand examination services in the Apache- Sitgreaves National Forest. Forestry Association contends that Stacey Harris is ineligible for contract award because the firm illegally employs its personnel as subcontractors.

We dismiss the protest.

Forestry Association earlier protested the award of the contract to Stacey Harris on the basis that the awardee was not responsible because it intended to employ its personnel as independent contractors in order to avoid various requirements, such as accounting for wages, benefits and overtime pay, paying certain taxes and withholding income taxes. In our decision, The Forestry Assoc., Inc., B-236240, Sept. 28, 1989, 89-2 CPD Para. 294, we declined to review these allegations because, in effect, we were being asked to consider the contracting officer's affirmative determination of responsibility which our Office will not review where, as in that case, there is no showing that such determination was made fraudulently or in bad faith or that definitive responsibility criteria in the solicitation were misapplied. See 4 C.F.R. Sec. 21.3(m)(5) (1989); The Forestry Assoc., Inc., B-237225, Oct. 19, 1989, 89-2 CPD Para. 365.

Here, Forestry Association is alleging that Stacey Harris, in the performance of its contract, illegally retains personnel as subcontractors rather than as employees in violation of the contract's subcontracting limitations. This allegation involves a matter of contract administration which our Office will not consider under our bid protest function. C.F.R. Sec. 21.3(m)(1); Canaveral Maritime, Inc., B-231857.4, B-231857.5, May 22, 1989, 89-1 CPD Para. 484.

The protest is dismissed.