BNUMBER:  B-265987
DATE:  January 3, 1996
TITLE:  Vantage Products Corporation

**********************************************************************

Matter of:Vantage Products Corporation

File:     B-265987

Date:     January 3, 1996

Walter W. Leach III, Esq., for the protester.
Phillipa L. Anderson, Esq., Department of Veterans Affairs, for the 
agency.
Charles W. Morrow, Esq., and James A. Spangenberg, Esq., Office of the 
General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision.

DIGEST

Protester has provided no basis to object to the Department of 
Veterans Affairs' (VA) procurement of only thermoplastic/thermosetting 
graveliners under a national requirements contract for use in various 
VA cemeteries, but not concrete graveliners--which are procured 
locally--where the protester's basic objection is that suppliers of 
the plastic graveliners have a competitive disadvantage because their 
prices are disclosed under the award of the national contract, but VA 
only procures concrete graveliners when the local office determines 
that they meet their burial needs and orders from the national 
contract when plastic graveliners meet their needs.

DECISION

Vantage Products Corporation protests the terms of invitation for bids 
(IFB) No. 101(402D3)-1-96, issued by the Department of Veterans 
Affairs (VA), to acquire thermoplastic/thermosetting graveliners under 
a single nationwide requirements contract for use in various VA 
cemetery sites within the contiguous United States, Hawaii, and Puerto 
Rico.  Vantage contends that the effect of this procurement is to 
prevent manufacturers of thermoplastic/thermosetting graveliners, like 
Vantage, from competing equally with manufacturers of concrete 
graveliners because concrete graveliners are procured locally after 
the plastic graveliner's prices have been exposed under this 
requirements contract.  Vantage requests that either the national IFB 
be amended to permit suppliers of concrete graveliners to compete, or 
that this IFB be canceled and all graveliners (concrete and plastic) 
be procured locally on an equal basis. 

We deny the protest.

The VA acquires two types of graveliners--plastic and concrete.  The 
VA reports that program officials at the individual VA cemeteries 
determine on a local level whether their individual needs are best met 
by plastic or concrete graveliners.  The plastic graveliners can be 
procured on a national basis because they are lightweight, easy to 
ship and store in large quantities, and can be installed manually by 
cemetery personnel without the aid or assistance of special machinery.  
Also, procuring the plastic liners on a national basis presumably will 
allow VA to obtain the benefit of economies of scale that may not be 
available if the plastic liners were locally procured.  In contrast, 
the concrete graveliners, which are much heavier and are installed by 
the supplier, are procured locally.  If the local officials determine 
that concrete liners meet their needs, the requirement is met in a 
separate local procurement exclusively for concrete liners, which 
includes installation as part of the cost of the liner; if plastic 
graveliners are required, they are ordered from the national 
requirements contract.     

Vantage's basic objection to the national procurement for plastic 
graveliners is that the successful contractor(s) are at a competitive 
disadvantage with regard to the local procurements of the concrete 
graveliners because suppliers of concrete graveliners can submit bids 
on the local procurements knowing the plastic graveliner's contract 
price.  However, the VA reports that local competitions are only 
conducted after the agency determines that concrete graveliners meet 
their burial needs, and these competitions are restricted exclusively 
to bidders offering concrete graveliners, including installation.  
Thus, Vantage has provided no basis to object to the restriction of 
this procurement to plastic graveliners because the prices under the 
national contract for plastic liners are basically irrelevant when it 
is decided to acquire concrete graveliners. 

The protest is denied.

Comptroller General
of the United States