Mechanix Wear, Inc.

B-416704.3 May 06, 2019 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Mechanix Wear, Inc., a small business located in Valencia, California, challenges the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. SPE1C1-18-R-0093, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for the procurement of Army combat gloves with capacitive capability, i.e., the capability to be used with touchscreens. The protester contends that the solicitation improperly applied the Berry Amendment to impose a domestic sourcing requirement on the processing of one of the glove components. We deny the protest. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of:  Mechanix Wear, Inc. File:  B-416704.3 Date:  May 6, 2019 Frank S. Murray, Esq., David T. Ralston, Jr., Esq., Micah T. Zomer, Esq., and Krista A. Nunez, Esq., Foley & Lardner LLP, for the protester. Allison Colsey Eck, Esq., Defense Logistics Agency, for the agency. Alexander O. Levine, Esq., and Jennifer D. Westfall-McGrail, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest challenging solicitation’s domestic source restriction is denied where the agency reasonably concluded that the restriction was required by the Berry Amendment. DECISION Mechanix Wear, Inc., a small business located in Valencia, California, challenges the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. SPE1C1-18-R-0093, issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for the procurement of Army combat gloves with capacitive capability, i.e., the capability to be used with touchscreens.  The protester contends that the solicitation improperly applied the Berry Amendment to impose a domestic sourcing requirement on the processing of one of the glove components.  We deny the protest. BACKGROUND The solicitation was issued on July 3, 2018, seeking to award an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with a 1-year base period and three 1-year option periods for the order of combat gloves with capacitive capability.  RFP at 9.  The solicitation anticipated an estimated quantity of 200,000 pairs of gloves in the base period and 210,000 pairs for each option period.  Id. at 13.  The total number of gloves that could be potentially acquired under the resulting contract was 1,037,500 pairs.  Id. The solicitation included Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) clause 252.225-7012, “Preference for Certain Domestic Commodities,” which implements the Berry Amendment.  Id. at 35-36.  The Berry Amendment generally restricts the Department of Defense’s expenditure of funds for certain articles and items to domestically produced products.  See 10 U.S.C. § 2533a(b).  DFARS clause 252.225-7012(b) states that: The Contractor shall deliver under this contract only such of the following items, either as end products or components, that have been grown, reprocessed, reused, or produced in the United States . . . (2) Clothing and the materials and components thereof. . . Clothing includes items such as . . . handwear. . . .  The clause also provides several exceptions to this restriction, including an exception for “items listed in section 25.104(a) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).”  DFARS clause 252.225-7012(c)(1).  One item listed at FAR § 25.104(a) is “[g]oat and kidskins.”  The RFP specifications required that the leather used in the gloves be made from goat and kidskin (goat/kidskin).  Purchase Description Specifications at 6.  Kidskin leather is a type of leather that is commonly made from the skin of young goats.  To produce leather, recently flayed goat/kidskins are initially preserved using a brining and salting process to protect the skins against putrefaction, which is the process by which organic matter decays.  Contracting Officer’s Statement/Memorandum of Law at 7.  The next step is a set of processes collectively referred to as beamhouse processing, where the non-structural components of the skins are removed to leave a collagen fiber network ready for tanning.  Id.  The last stage of beamhouse processing is pickling, where the skins are treated with acid to render the collagen resistant to bacterial attack and to enable the penetration of chromium as part of the chrome tanning stage.  Id.