Protest Concerning SBA Standard Operating Procedures

A firm protested the proposed award of a contract by the Defense Mapping Agency to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the proposed award of a subsequent contract to any firm under the Small Business Act. The protester argued that SBA has not performed an impact study as per their normal procedures. Impact statements are memoranda assessing, among other things, the impact on other small businesses of reserving a contract requirement for subcontracting. SBA Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are generally performed by the regional administrator before a requirement is reserved. GAO recently held that it would not review alleged violations of SBA SOP absent a showing of fraud or bad faith on the part of Government procurement officials because SOP is primarily an internal agency guideline and may be waived or revoked. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.