Protest of Small Business Status Denial

The low bidder on a small business set-aside issued by the Department of the Army protested the Small Business Administration's (SBA) decision to deny it a continued small business status because of a failure to file a complete up-to-date financial statement. The protester also challenged the small business size standard applied by the Army and asserted that, while SBA admitted that the standard applied was incorrect, SBA stated that it was too late to change the size standard. SBA is empowered to determine conclusively matters concerning a bidder's small business size status for Federal procurement and sales purposes. Regulations provide that SBA regional directors shall make original size determinations or decide protests regarding a business' size status. GAO does not consider protests relating to size status because it does not have the legal authority to do so. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.