PR Newswire, B-279216, April 23, 1998

B-279216 Apr 23, 1998 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights DIGEST Procurement for news distribution services was properly set aside for exclusive small business participation where the contracting officer reasonably determined that the agency could expect offers from at least two responsible small business concerns and that award would be made at a fair market price. PR Newswire contends that the set-aside is improper and tantamount to a sole source award because there is only one small business capable of performing those services. The successful contractor is to distribute the full text of White House documents including. The contractor will accept data from the White House via Internet. PR Newswire contends that the only entities technically capable of performing this contract are PR Newswire (which is not a qualifying small business). View Decision Matter of: PR Newswire File: B-279216 Date: April 23, 1998 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION PR Newswire protests the Executive Office of the President's (EOP) issuance as a total small business set-aside of solicitation No. EOPOA-97-07, for electronic news distribution services. PR Newswire contends that the set-aside is improper and tantamount to a sole source award because there is only one small business capable of performing those services. We deny the protest. The successful contractor is to distribute the full text of White House documents including, but not limited to, press releases, press advisories, schedules, speech texts, presidential proclamations, backgrounds, and transcripts of media briefings and other news events. All documents must be distributed within 1 hour of receipt by the contractor. The contractor will accept data from the White House via Internet, e-mail, fax transmission, and computer disk. Services must be available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. PR Newswire contends that the only entities technically capable of performing this contract are PR Newswire (which is not a qualifying small business), and one small business, U.S. Newswire (the incumbent). PR Newswire asserts that these two offerors were the on two "truly" competent offerors in a "past similar procurement." All other submissions were allegedly withdrawn by the offerors or eliminated from the competition for "limitations in competency." Under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Sec. 19.502-2(b), a procurement with an anticipated dollar value of more than $100,000 must be set aside for exclusive small business participation when there is a reasonable expectation of receiving offers from at least two responsible small business concerns and that award will be made at a fair market price. American Med. Response of Conn., Inc., B-278457, Jan. 30, 1998, 98-1 CPD Para. 44 at 2. Unless such a reasonable expectation exists, a total small business set-aside cannot be issued. FAR Sec. 19.502-2(b); see FKW Inc., B-249189, Oct. 22, 1992, 92-2 CPD Para. 270 at 2. The use of any particular method of assessing the availability of small businesses is not required so long as the agency undertakes reasonable efforts to locate responsible small business competitors; in this regard, the decision whether to set aside a procurement may be based on an analysis of factors such as the prior procurement history, the recommendations of appropriate small business specialists, and market surveys which include responses to Commerce Business Daily (CBD) announcements. Litton Electron Devices, 66 Comp. Gen. 257, 259 (1987), 87-1 CPD Para. 164 at 3. Because a decision whether to set aside a procurement is a matter of business judgment within the contracting officer's discretion, our review generally is limited to ascertaining whether that official abused his or her discretion. CardioMetrix, B-271012, May 15, 1996, 96-1 CPD Para. 227 at 2. In this case, prior to issuing the solicitation, EOP took into consideration the fact that technological advances had been made in the data distribution industry in the 3 years since the last time the effort was competed. The contracting officer observed that the market was "expanding daily with more high tech capabilities being offered by more small businesses." Based on these technological advances and EOP's policy to provide maximum opportunities to small businesses, EOP conducted an informal market survey to determine if the procurement was appropriate for set-aside. The survey included a review of the EOP small business specialist's file of standard forms 129 for Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code 7375, "Information Retrieval Services." This review identified more than 30 interested small business concerns in this SIC Code with the potential capability to perform the required services. Since prior experience was not a prerequisite for this acquisition, the contracting officer determined to issue the solicitation as a total small business set-aside.