HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.gao/gaobadapn0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
I
G A 0Comptroller General
L LA Accountability * Integrity * Reliability of the United States
United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548
D ..
Decision
Matter of: ESM Group, Inc.
File: B-400298.2
Date: October 14, 2008
Eric J. Marcotte, Esq., and James White, Esq., Winston & Strawn LLP, for the
protester.
Walter R. Dukes, Esq., Department of the Army, for the agency.
John L. Formica, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the General
Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision.
DIGEST
Agency's cancellation of a solicitation was reasonable where the agency states that it
no longer has a need for the item solicited.
DECISION
ESM Group, Inc. protests the cancellation of request for proposals (RFP)
No. W15PlJ-08-R-3021, issued by the Department of the Army, for magnesium
powder.
We deny the protest.
The RFP, issued on June 11, 2008, provided for the award of a contract for the supply
of the magnesium powder for a base period of 1 year, with two 1-year options, to the
offeror submitting the low-priced, technically acceptable proposal. ESM filed a
protest with our Office (docketed as B-400298) prior to the closing date for the
solicitation, arguing that the RFP was unduly restrictive of competition because of
the RFP's implied requirement that the [magnesium powder] particles be produced
through an atomizing process. Protest (B-400298) at 9. On July 15, prior to the
submission of its agency report in response to the protest, the Army informed our
Office and the protester that it was canceling the solicitation, and requested that our
Office dismiss the protest. The Army's request included a memorandum from the
contracting officer, stating that the solicitation was defective in that it had failed to
restrict the purchase of Magnesium Powder (atomized) to the National Technology
Industrial Base, and that as a result, the agency will cancel [the] solicitation and
resolicit with the appropriate restriction. Agency Request for Dismissal, encl. 1,](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobadapn0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)