Protest Involving Security Services Contract

A small business contractor protested the award of an Air Force contract, contending that it was entitled to the award as the lowest responsive, responsible bidder; that the contracting officer improperly determined it to be nonresponsible in contravention of a prior GAO decision under the same solicitation; and that after determining the protester to be nonresponsible, the contracting officer was required to refer the matter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for a final determination. The prior decision held that since the solicitation contained only general statements requiring the contractor to obtain all necessary licenses and permits, and that the failure of the proposed awardee to obtain a State license did not require the contracting officer to find the proposed awardee nonresponsible and would not affect the validity of the award if made. After bid opening the contracting officer was notified that the State would try to enforce State licensing requirements on an unlicensed bidder. Under these circumstances the determination that the bidder was nonresponsible was reasonable. Because there are no SBA regulations resolving discrepencies between the Small Business Act and the Defense Acquisition Regulation (DAR) requiring referral to SBA before a small business may be rejected as nonresponsible, GAO would not consider whether the contracting officer properly relied on DAR exceptions to SBA referral procedure. GAO held that the protester's failure to hold a State license was relevant to its ability to perform the contract in an efficient manner. The protest was denied.