[Protest of VA Contract Award for Elevator/Dumbwaiter Maintenance Services]

A firm protested a Veterans Administration (VA) contract award to another bidder for maintenance services, contending that VA: (1) improperly competed the procurement as a small business set-aside; (2) should have given it written notice of the denial of its agency-level protest; (3) should terminate the contract and resolicit on an unrestricted basis, since the only bid it received from a small business was nearly twice as high as the protester's bid; and (4) should reimburse it for its bid protest costs. GAO held that: (1) it would not consider the portion of the protest alleging improper procurement and the absence of a written protest denial, which the protester untimely filed more than 10 days after receiving notice of adverse agency action; (2) the protester failed to show that VA acted unreasonably in determining that the awardee's price was reasonable; and (3) the protester was not entitled to reimbursement for its protest costs, since the protest was without legal merit. Accordingly, the protest was dismissed in part and denied in part.