[Protest of Air Force Award of Concession Agreement]

A firm protested an Air Force award of a concession agreement to another bidder, contending that the Air Force improperly denied it an opportunity to compete. The Air Force contended that GAO did not have jurisdiction to decide the protest because: (1) the agreement was not a procurement contract; and (2) the government would not receive any benefits or income from the agreement. GAO held that: (1) its jurisdiction to decide protests extended to protests filed by interested parties challenging federal procurements and did not turn on whether appropriated funds were involved; (2) it would review the case to determine whether the Air Force acted reasonably, since the Armed Services Procurement Act's provisions did not apply to this procurement; (3) the Air Force properly obtained the services from the low offerer after it learned that appropriated funds would not be available to fund the contract on a sole-source basis; and (4) the Air Force improperly included options to extend the contract, since it justified the award on the basis of urgency. Accordingly, the protest was denied.