[Protest of NIH Contract Award]

A small business protested a contract award by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for experimental research. The protester alleged that its proposal offered the lowest cost in the competitive range but that it did not receive the award because NIH made a determination that it was nonresponsible. The protester stated that NIH failed to submit this determination to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for a Certificate of Competency (COC) determination. The protester requested that, since it was denied its right to demonstrate to SBA that it was competent to perform, the present contract should be terminated and it should be awarded the new contract. GAO found that the matter was not referred to SBA for a possible issuance of a COC because of an oversight by the contracting agency. GAO stated that a small business may not be precluded from an award on the basis of nonresponsibility without referral of the matter to SBA. GAO noted that the agency did correspond with SBA regarding the protester, following the filing of a protest with NIH, but GAO did not view this correspondence as a COC referral. GAO recommended that the contracting officer refer the matter of the protester's responsibility to the SBA for consideration. Accordingly, the protest was sustained.