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B-401661,B-401661.2 1 (2009-10-27)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadbak0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G A 0 Comptroller General Accountability * Integrity * Reliability of the United States United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 D .. Decision Matter of: RBC Bearings Incorporated File: B-401661; B-401661.2 Date: October 27, 2009 James T. Layton, for the protester. Niketa Wharton, Esq., Defense Logistics Agency, for the agency. Paul N. Wengert, Esq., and Ralph 0. White, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Protest of a sole-source contract award justified on the basis of urgency is sustained where the protester's pursuit of source approval to compete for purchases of helicopter swashplate bearings for more than 9 years, combined with continuing requirement for these parts, show that the urgent need to limit competition here was caused by a failure of advance planning. DECISION RBC Bearings Incorporated, of Trenton, New Jersey, protests the proposed sole-source award of a contract for 33 sets of duplex bearings, identified by national stock number (NSN) No. 3110-01-094-6792 to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, of Stratford, Connecticut (or to its supplier, Kaydon Corporation, of Muskegon, Michigan) by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) under request for proposals (RFP) No. SPM4A5-09-R-0679. The bearings are a critical safety item, used in the swashplate assembly of the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. RBC argues that the sole- source procurement is improper. We sustain the protest because the record shows that the need for this sole-source procurement, and RBC's ineligibility to compete, has been caused by the agency's failure to conduct advance planning. BACKGROUND This protest relates to RBC's efforts over almost 10 years to become a second approved source for Black Hawk helicopter swashplate bearings. In simple terms, two swashplates join the main rotor to the top of the main fuselage of a helicopter; the lower swashplate is stationary, while the upper swashplate rotates. Duplex ball

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