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![handle is hein.gao/gaocrptadww0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
Comptroller General
of the United States
Washington, D.C. 20548
Decision
Matter of: Chant Engineering Co., Inc.
File: B-270149.2
Date: February 14, 1996
Philip Chant for the protester.
Maria G. Bellizzi, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency.
Susan K. McAuliffe, Esq., and Michael R. Golden, Esq., Office of the General
Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
Contracting agency's cancellation of request for proposals is unobjectionable where
agency reasonably determined that the solicitation overstated its minimum
requirements and that enhanced competition would result from relaxation of
requirements.
DECISION
Chant Engineering Co., Inc. protests the cancellation of request for proposals (RFP)
No. N00600-95-R-2101, issued by the Department of the Navy for a proof test
machine, grips, liners, and adapters.
We deny the protest.
The cancellation followed a protest to our Office by Chant of the award of a
contract under the RFP to Roberts Testing Equipment, Inc. According to the
agency, it terminated Roberts's contract for convenience and canceled the
solicitation because its review of the procurement record and the solicitation's
specifications showed that the original RFP materially overstated the agency's
minimum needs and that cancellation was in the best interests of the government.
We closed our file on the protest of the award because the cancellation rendered
the protest academic. The Navy reports that the RFP specifications currently are
being reviewed for substantial revision to draft a more generic, less restrictive, and
precise specification that states the government minimum requirement which, the
agency contends, will result in increased competition with potential cost savings
for the [g]overnment; the agency has identified at least two additional competitors
that could meet the relaxed specifications. The agency further states that funding
constraints may preclude resolicitation in any event.
Chant challenges the Navy's decision to cancel the RFP. Chant argues that the two
proposals received (Chant's and Roberts's) should represent sufficient competition
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