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![handle is hein.gao/gaobaeaty0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
GAOU.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General
Washington, DC 20548 of the United States
Decision
Matter of: MCI Diagnostic Center, LLC
File: B-418330
Date: March 11, 2020
Kathleen D. Henderson for the protester.
Natica Chapman Neely, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the agency.
John Sorrenti, Esq., and Christina Sklarew, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO,
participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
Protest challenging agency's award of a sole-source contract under simplified
acquisition procedures is denied where the record shows that the agency reasonably
determined that there was only one source reasonably available to meet the agency's
urgent requirements for tuberculosis testing services.
DECISION
MCI Diagnostic Center, LLC (MCI), of Tulsa, Oklahoma, protests the issuance of a sole-
source purchase order to Quest Diagnostics, Inc. (Quest) by the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) for t-spot interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) tuberculosis
testing services. MCI argues that the sole-source award was unjustified and
unreasonable.
We deny the protest.
BACKGROUND
On August 20, 2019, the agency posted on the System for Award Management (SAM)
website a sources-sought notice requesting information to enable the agency to
conduct[] market research to identify potential sources for a potential procurement of t-
spot IGRA [tuberculosis] testing for the Southeast [Louisiana] VA Health Care System
located in New Orleans, [Louisiana].' See Protest, exh. B, Notice ID No.
1 The SAM website is the official [United States] government website for people who
make, receive, and manage federal awards. See https://beta.sam.gov/help/new-to-](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobaeaty0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)