BF Goodrich Aerospace--Reconsideration

B-290329 Jun 21, 2002 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights A firm protested a Department of Defense Cancellation of a solicitation for research and development activities in the area of active cooling of high heat electronic components,contending that DOD improperly canceled the topic prior to the deadline for submitting offers. GAO noted that after consideration by numerous component activities of DOD, it determined that it did not have a requirement for the research. Accordingly the protest was denied. View Decision Pike Creek Computer Company, Inc., B-290329, June 21, 2002 DIGEST Attorneys DECISION Pike Creek Computer Company, Inc. protests the cancellation of topic No. N02-T019 under program solicitation No. 2002, issued by the Department of Defense (DOD) in support of the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. /1/ Pike Creek argues that the agency improperly canceled the topic prior to the deadline for submitting offers. We deny the protest. DOD issues a single STTR program solicitation once a year, and that solicitation includes research topics identified by various military activities. The solicitation here was issued on January 2, 2002, and included topic No. N02-T019 (a topic identified by the Navy), seeking proposals for research and development activities in the area of active cooling of high heat electronic components. Proposals were due by April 17. On April 12, DOD deleted the subject topic from the STTR solicitation. Pike Creek maintains that it was improper for the agency to delete the topic only a few days prior to the deadline for submitting proposals, noting that, by the time of the cancellation, it had expended substantial time and resources in preparation of its proposal. The protester requests either that it be awarded a contract for the topic, or that the agency be required to reopen the topic and receive and evaluate proposals for the requirement. Pike Creek also requests reimbursement of its proposal preparation and protest costs. In a negotiated acquisition such as this one, agencies have broad discretion in deciding whether to cancel a solicitation and need only advance a reasonable basis for the cancellation. Encore Mgmt., Inc., B-278903.2, Feb. 12, 1999, 99-1 CPD Para. 33 at 3. Cancellation is proper where award under the solicitation would not meet the government's actual needs, and the agency properly may cancel a solicitation no matter when the information precipitating the cancellation first surfaces or should have been known, even if the cancellation occurs after proposals have been submitted. Id. We have no basis to object to the agency's cancellation of the topic. The agency reports that the selection of research topics for inclusion in the STTR solicitation involves an interactive process among several elements of DOD. Specifically, each service element (in this case, the Navy) submits proposed topics to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Office (OSD/SADBU), which then forwards the proposed topics to the Director of Defense for Research and Engineering (DDR&E) for substantive review. After that substantive review, DDR&E either accepts a topic or rejects it based on a determination that the topic does not meet one or more topic selection criteria. Where a topic is rejected, the service element is advised. At that point, the service element may either abandon the topic, rewrite the topic or appeal its rejection. The rewritten/appealed topic is again forwarded to DDR&E, which once again reviews the topic for inclusion in the solicitation. If the topic is again rejected by DDR&E, it is automatically forwarded to an Integrated Review Team (IRT) for review. The IRT then forwards its assessment to the director of OSD/SADBU, which consults with the director of DDR&E in making a final determination of whether to include a topic in the solicitation. Agency Report (AR), Exh. No. 1 (a document reflecting DOD's internal agency procedure for selecting research topics describes the process outlined above). Here, when the Navy initially submitted the subject topic, it was rejected by DDR&E. Statement of the Navy Program Manager at 4. The topic was then rewritten and resubmitted to DDR&E, which again disapproved the topic, and then forwarded it to the IRT. Id. The IRT, in turn, also disapproved the topic, and sent its recommendation to OSD/SADBU. Id. In the meantime, the Navy's program manager rewrote the topic again and forwarded it, along with numerous other Navy topics, to the STTR program manager. According to the Navy's program manager, he found nothing in DOD's internal guidance that prohibited his forwarding the disapproved topic to the STTR program manager; he concluded that the director of OSD/SADBU would make the final determination as to whether the topic would be included in the solicitation.