Protest Concerning Small Business Size Status

A firm protested the award of a contract under a small business set-aside procurement conducted by the Air Force. The protester contended that (1) the awardee did not qualify as a small business concern because of its affiliation with other firms, and (2) the protester did not receive official written notice of the contract award. GAO does not review size status protests since the Small Business Administration (SBA) is empowered to determine matters of small business size status for Federal procurement and sales purposes. Thus the Army referred the protest to SBA for consideration of that question. Although the record showed that the Army sent out notices of the award, the protester apparently did not receive one; however, this alone did not render the award invalid. It was noted that the contracting officer did not provide a required pre-award notice that would permit unsuccessful offerors to contest the size status of the apparent successful offeror. Under the circumstances, should SBA rule that the awardee is not a small business, termination of the contract would appear to be appropriate. The portion of the protest over which GAO had jurisdiction was dismissed.