[Protest of NIH Contract Award]

A firm protested the award of a contract to perform front end microprocessor support for data bank projects under a small business set-aside issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The protester asserted that the awardee was not a legal entity either during the course of negotiations or at the time of award and that the awardee was afforded preferential treatment by NIH. This protest was filed 3 months after the agency's adverse action. GAO will not review a protest filed more than 10 working days after notice of initial adverse agency action. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.