[Protest of HHS Contract Award for Management Services]

A firm protested a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contract award for management services, contending that HHS: (1) improperly disclosed information to its competitor before award; (2) was prejudiced against socially disadvantaged small businesses; and (3) treated bidders unequally with regard to notice of award. GAO held that: (1) it would not review a decision not to contract with a small business absent a showing of possible fraud, bad faith, or violations of procurement regulations on the part of the contracting officer; (2) it would not review alleged prejudice against contracting officials since the protester did not meet the burden of proving its case; and (3) it would not consider an allegation that a contracting agency failed to give equally prompt notice of an award since that was a procedural deficiency that did not affect the validity of the otherwise proper award. GAO found no legal basis to support the protester's contention that the agency improperly disclosed information because the information was neither required in the proposal nor considered proprietary. Accordingly, the protest was denied in part and dismissed in part.