B-235331, May 16, 1989, 89-1 CPD 471
Highlights
Will not review a challenge to the award of a cooperative agreement unless there is some threshold showing that a procurement contract should have been used. The protest is dismissed. The Department of Commerce reports that the award to CARA was in fact a cooperative agreement rather than a contract. The award of a cooperative agreement is not the award of a procurement contract. We have continued our practice of generally not considering challenges to the award of a cooperative agreement. Although we consider challenges to cooperative agreements where there is some threshold showing that the agreement was used where a contract is required. There is no such showing here. The protest is dismissed.
B-235331, May 16, 1989, 89-1 CPD 471
PROCUREMENT - Special Procurement Methods/Categories - Cooperative agreements - GAO review DIGEST: Under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984, the General Accounting Office, as before, will not review a challenge to the award of a cooperative agreement unless there is some threshold showing that a procurement contract should have been used.
Resource Development Program & Services, Inc.:
Resource Development Programs Services, Inc. (RDPS), protests the award of a contract to Corporate America Research Associates, Inc. (CARA), under solicitation No. 06-01-89002-01 issued by the Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency, for the operation of a minority business development center in Brownsville, Texas. RDPS challenges the evaluation of CARA's proposal.
The protest is dismissed.
The Department of Commerce reports that the award to CARA was in fact a cooperative agreement rather than a contract. Under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (CICA), we consider protests involving the award of contracts for the procurement of goods and services and solicitations leading to such awards. 31 U.S.C. Secs. 3551-6 (Supp. IV 1986). The award of a cooperative agreement is not the award of a procurement contract. See 31 U.S.C. Secs. 6303, 6305 (1982); Burgos & Assocs., Inc., 58 Comp.Gen. 785 (1979), 79-2 CPD Para. 194. Consequently, with the enactment of CICA, we have continued our practice of generally not considering challenges to the award of a cooperative agreement. Ship Analytics, Inc., District 2, Marine Engineers Beneficial Assocs., B-227084, B-227084.2, May 5, 1987, 87-1 CPD Para. 475.
Although we consider challenges to cooperative agreements where there is some threshold showing that the agreement was used where a contract is required, Ship Analytics, Inc., District 2, Marine Engineers Beneficial Assocs.-- Reconsideration, B-227084.3, B-227084.4, Dec. 15, 1987, 87-2 CPD Para. 590, there is no such showing here.
The protest is dismissed.