[Protest of NIH Contract Award]

A firm protested a contract award by the National Institutes of Health to another firm, alleging that the awardee was in violation of local law and that the awardee was incapable of performing the service called for in the solicitation. GAO held that the matter of local law violations was one for local authorities to decide. GAO also held that the matter of whether the awardee could perform the service was one of bidder responsibility. GAO does not review affirmative determinations of responsibility absent a showing of fraud, bad faith, or misapplication of definitive responsibility criteria on the part of the contracting officer. None of the exceptions applied to this case. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.