Protests of Proposal Rejections

Two firms protested the award of a contract for security guard services to other firms. The low and second lowest offerors under the procurement protested the rejection of their offers without referral to the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Certificate of Competency (COC) procedure. The second protester requested bid preparation costs. The firms had been eliminated from competition due to the lack of a security clearance which was required in the request for proposals. Both protesters contended that the issue of whether they could obtain the security clearance related to their responsibility and should have been referred by the agency to SBA for determination. The agency contended that the lack of a security clearance related to the firms' responsiveness. GAO found that the issue of the ability of the firms to obtain a security clearance was clearly an issue of responsibility which should have been referred to SBA. GAO sustained the protest of the low bidding protester but would not recommend action leading to the termination of the present contract and the disruption of security guard services. The second low bidding protester's claim for proposal preparation costs was denied, as there was no evidence of arbitrary action on the agency's part.