[Protest of Army Rejection of Bid for Camouflage Support Poles]

A firm protested the Army's rejection of its bid as nonresponsive in a total small business set-aside solicitation for the purchase of camouflage support poles, contending that its failure to certify that all of its supplies would be small business products was an improper basis for a nonresponsiveness finding since it had stated in a bid amendment that all other terms and conditions of the bid would be met. GAO has held that: (1) the failure of a bidder to certify that its supplies will be small business productions is a matter of responsiveness; (2) a blanket statement of compliance does not establish the required unequivocal commitment to provide the requested items in compliance with the solicitation; and (3) since the responsiveness of a bid must be determined from the bid itself without explanations after bid opening, the amendment cannot be considered in the responsiveness determination. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.