B-238234.2, B-239682, Sep 17, 1990, 90-2 CPD 218

B-238234.2, B-239682, Sep 17, 1990, 90-2 CPD 218

PROCUREMENT - Small Purchase Method - Requests for quotations - Terms - Design specifications DIGEST: Agency may use manufacturers' part number or national stock number as an item description under a procurement of a relatively simple and common item conducted through small purchase procedures where there is no indication that such identification failed to convey the agency's needs.

Attorneys

East West Research, Inc.:

East West Research, Inc. protests the terms of request for quotations (RFQ) Nos. DLA400-90-T-3909 (RFQ-3909) and DLA400-90-T-A662 (RFQ-A662), issued by the Defense General Supply Center, Defense Logistics Agency. East West contends that the agency's item descriptions are inadequate because they do not contain detailed purchase descriptions.

We deny the protests.

Both RFQ's were issued pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13 small purchase procedures. RFQ-3909 requested quotations for 2,298 abrasive wheels, national stock number (NSN) 3460-01-306 0571, Norton Co. part No. K1139260. /1/ RFQ-A662 requested quotes for 1,050 welders helmet lenses, NSN 4240-01-111-2214, ANSI standard No. Z87.1- 1989. Both solicitations permitted offerors to quote on alternate products.

East West initially contended that the items should be ordered using certain federal specifications listed in the General Services Administration's Index of Federal Specifications, Standards and Commercial Item Descriptions. We have rejected this argument in other East West protests of small purchases. See East West Research, Inc., B-238177 et al., supra.

East West now asserts that the agency's use of a manufacturer's part number as an item description is improper. In this regard, East West asserts that if the use of a federal specification will not satisfy the agency's needs, the agency is required by FAR Sec. 10.004(b)(1) to use a detailed purchase description setting forth the essential physical and functional characteristics of the item in order to adequately express the government's minimum requirements.

The issue raised in this protest is identical to that resolved in East West Research, Inc., B-239620, Aug. 28, 1990, 90-2 CPD Para. ***, which also involved the propriety of using manufacturers' part numbers as an item description instead of a detailed purchase description outlined in FAR Sec. 10.004(b)(1). The protester here relies upon the same arguments considered in the previous decision, in which we found that a contracting agency is not required to draft a special narrative purchase description setting forth the physical and functional characteristics of relatively simple and common items being acquired through small purchase procedures where there is no indication that the use of NSNs and manufacturers' part numbers failed to adequately convey the agency's needs. Since the issue raised by East West in these protests is essentially the same as the issue resolved in our decision of August 28, we see no reason to reach a different result here.

The protests are denied.

/1/ East West filed an earlier protest with our Office against this solicitation. East West Research, Inc., B-238177 et al., Apr. 18, 1990, 90-1 CPD Para. 399. In that protest East West contended that the abrasive wheels should be procured using American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards as the item description. We denied that protest for essentially the same reasons set forth in this case. The agency subsequently reissued the solicitation to obtain updated quotations. This protest followed.