Protest of Bonneville Power Administration Procurement Procedures

A firm protested certain procurement procedures of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The Bonneville Project Act affords the Administrator of BPA extensive discretionary authority to conduct BPA contractual affairs as he deems appropriate. The Act frees BPA from procurement regulations and restrictions applicable to agencies conducting more conventional Government business and, thus, enables the Administrator to conduct BPA business with a freedom similar to that of public corporations. In the light of the Administrator's broad discretion, GAO has found that it could not take any effective remedial action with respect to BPA procurement actions and has consistently declined to review protests of BPA procurements. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.