Magnum Products, Inc.

B-256014.4 Oct 24, 1994 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Solicitation requirement for multiple items of brand-name-or-equal safety eyeglasses and parts "as long as all items are interchangeable" does not unduly restrict competition where the challenged requirement is reasonably related to the agency's minimum needs to make quick and safe repairs to broken glasses while minimizing its inventory and costs. Bouton asserts that the solicitation requirements are unduly restrictive of competition. Safety Products and required all-or-none offers.[1] Two protests were subsequently filed by a prospective offeror. Asserting that the requirements for brand-name-only products and all-or-none offers were unduly restrictive of competition. The Air Force took corrective action on both protests and amended the RFP to permit offers for brand name or equal products "as long as all items are interchangeable. View Decision Matter of: H.L. Bouton Company, Inc. File: B-256014.4 Date: October 24, 1994 Solicitation requirement for multiple items of brand-name-or-equal safety eyeglasses and parts "as long as all items are interchangeable" does not unduly restrict competition where the challenged requirement is reasonably related to the agency's minimum needs to make quick and safe repairs to broken glasses while minimizing its inventory and costs. Attorneys DECISION H.L. Bouton Company, Inc. protests the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. F34650-93-R-0379, issued by the Department of the Air Force for prescription and nonprescription safety eyeglasses and associated spare parts for the Occupational Vision Clinic at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Bouton asserts that the solicitation requirements are unduly restrictive of competition. We deny the protest in part and dismiss it in part. The RFP, issued as a total small business set-aside, contemplated the award of a firm, fixed-price contract for a base and 4 option years. The RFP initially specified brand-name-only glasses and parts manufactured by U.S. Safety Products and required all-or-none offers.[1] Two protests were subsequently filed by a prospective offeror, Fosta-Tek Optics, Inc., asserting that the requirements for brand-name-only products and all-or-none offers were unduly restrictive of competition. The Air Force took corrective action on both protests and amended the RFP to permit offers for brand name or equal products "as long as all items are interchangeable,"[2] and providing for evaluation of offers for multiple awards to permit the submission of offers for less than all of the items solicited. Bouton, which only supplies nonprescription glasses, protested the amended solicitation, arguing, among other things, that the interchangeability requirement for nonprescription glasses is unduly restrictive of competition. Bouton asserts that the component products of the various manufacturers are not interchangeable with each other, and thus the solicitation effectively restricts competition to U.S. Safety glasses and parts only. In preparing a solicitation for supplies or services, a contracting agency must specify its needs and solicit offers in a manner designed to achieve full and open competition, and include restrictive provisions or conditions only to the extent necessary to satisfy the agency's needs. 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2305(a)(1) (1988). Contracting agencies have broad discretion in identifying their needs and determining what characteristics will satisfy those needs, and we will not question an agency's determination of its needs so long as that determination is reasonable. Herley Indus., Inc., B-246326, Feb. 28, 1992, 92-1 CPD Para. 243; Bombardier, Inc., Canadair, Challenger Div., B-243977; B-244560, Aug. 30, 1991, 91-2 CPD Para. 224. Nor will we object to a requirement based on a particular brand name product as unduly restrictive of competition where the requirement is reasonably related to the agency's minimum needs. Id. Where a protester alleges that the requirements of a solicitation are unduly restrictive, we will review the requirements to ensure that they are reasonably related to the agency's minimum needs. Id. The agency states that its minimum needs are to quickly and safely repair or replace broken glasses (both prescription and nonprescription), while limiting the size of its inventory to fit in the small storage space available at the optical clinic and minimizing costs. By requiring that the components of the glasses be interchangeable with the different types of glasses and brands which could be procured, the agency will be able to maintain a small inventory and safely repair broken glasses as they occur by scavenging parts from whatever glasses or parts are in stock regardless of type or brand.