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B-244320, Jun 7, 1991, 91-1 CPD ***

B-244320 Jun 07, 1991
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Highlights

PROCUREMENT - Contractor Qualification - Responsibility - Contracting officer findings - Affirmative determination - GAO review DIGEST: Protest that proposed awardee is nonresponsible and therefore should not receive award is dismissed. General Accounting Office will not review agency's affirmative determination of responsibility absent circumstances not present in this case. VLS maintains that Elite is not a responsible prospective contractor and therefore should not receive the award. Our Office does not consider protests challenging affirmative determinations of a prospective contractor's responsibility absent a showing that the determination was made fraudulently or in bad faith. Or that definitive responsibility criteria were not met.

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B-244320, Jun 7, 1991, 91-1 CPD ***

PROCUREMENT - Contractor Qualification - Responsibility - Contracting officer findings - Affirmative determination - GAO review DIGEST: Protest that proposed awardee is nonresponsible and therefore should not receive award is dismissed; General Accounting Office will not review agency's affirmative determination of responsibility absent circumstances not present in this case.

Attorneys

Virginia Linen Service, Inc.:

Virginia Linen Service, Inc. (VLS) protests the proposed award of a contract to Elite Linen Service under Department of the Navy request for proposals (RFP) No. N00174-91-R-0057. VLS maintains that Elite is not a responsible prospective contractor and therefore should not receive the award.

Our Office does not consider protests challenging affirmative determinations of a prospective contractor's responsibility absent a showing that the determination was made fraudulently or in bad faith, or that definitive responsibility criteria were not met. Bid Protest Regulations, 4 C.F.R. Sec. 21.3(m)(5) (1991). VLS has neither alleged nor shown that either of these exceptions applies. VLS does cite our decision Nova Int'l, Inc., B-227696, Sept. 21, 1987, 87-2 CPD Para. 284, for the proposition that we will review responsibility determinations to determine whether they were reasonably based. However, that case involved a negative determination of the protester's responsibility, not an affirmative determination of a proposed awardee's responsibility. The standard of review in Nova thus is inapplicable here.

The protest is dismissed.

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