[Protest of EEOC Rejection of Proposal as Technically Unacceptable]

A firm protested the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's rejection of its proposal as technically unacceptable, contending that technical acceptability was an issue of responsibility that should have been referred to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for review under certificate of competency procedures. GAO determined that: (1) technical acceptability is not an element of responsibility; (2) an agency determination that a small business concern's proposal is technically unacceptable need not be referred to SBA; and (3) it is appropriate in a negotiated procurement to use responsibility factors as technical evaluation criteria as long as those factors provide an appropriate basis for comparing one proposal to another. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed.