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B-186276 1 (1976-08-20)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaddhf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ~o ~ THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL DECISION 'OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON, 0. C.204 FILE: B-186276 DATE: August 20, 1976 MATTER OF: Maremont Corporation 9 DIGEST: 1. After side-by-side testing, technical and cost evaluation, and discussions with two sources in preprocurement context, Army selected foreign MAG58 machine gun instead of American- made M60E2. Although protester now complains that selection process was procurement and Army did not comply with applicable laws and regulations, protester entered into process with eyes wide open and was not prejudiced. Army's selection process was necessary to determine minimum machine gun needs, since there was insufficient data for Army to make such determina- tion prior to completion of process. 2. Agency may legitimately conduct preprocurement tests and dis- cussions with--potential suppliers as well as consider cost when formulating minimum needs. 3. Since Army machine gun selection program was not procurement but rather process to determine minimum needs, no written Determina- tions and Findings (D&F) had to be prepared prior to selection of foreign machine gun as minimum need. In any case, agency's failure to prepare D&F prior to conducting negotiations prepara- tory to executing sole-source contract is deviation of form rather than substance. 4. Although specifications based on superior characteristics in excess to Government's minimum needs are generally considered overly restrictive, Army, acting within broad discretion, could legitimately specify machine gun, as critical human survival item, to be as reliable and effective as possible. In reasonably. determining that MAG58 instead of YM60E2 reflected minimum machine gun need primarily because of superior reliability, Army considered MAG58's higher cost, possible lower cost effectiveness, and deficiencies (e.g., broken rivet and cracked receiver problems) and M60E2's strong points (e.g., commonality with other weapons),. as well as suggested repair policy which may have significantly improved.M60E2's reliability. - 1 - PUBLISHED DECISION 55Cgap. Glen....***

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