BNUMBER:  B-277883 
DATE:  October 29, 1997
TITLE: Millbrook Industrial Contracts, Ltd., B-277883, October 29,
1997
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Matter of:Millbrook Industrial Contracts, Ltd.

File:     B-277883

Date:October 29, 1997

S. G. Hogan for the protester.
Maj. Michael J. O'Farrell, Jr., Department of the Army, for the 
agency.
Mary Curcio, Esq., and John M. Melody, Esq., Office of the General 
Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision.

DIGEST

Protest that solicitation improperly restricts competition by 
requiring contractor to paint vehicles at contractor's facility, 
rather than on government installation, is denied where agency 
reasonably determined that restriction is necessary to minimize 
government's potential liability for environmental violations which 
could result from hazardous paint dust and fumes.

DECISION

Millbrook Industrial Contracts, Ltd. protests the terms of invitation 
for bids No. DAJA22-97-B-0038, issued by the Department of the Army, 
Wiesbaden, Germany, for the sanding, sandblasting, rustproofing, and 
"Chemical Agent Resistant Coat" painting of tracked and wheeled 
military vehicles located at 26 U.S. military installations in 
Germany.  The solicitation called for tracked vehicles to be sanded 
and painted at 11 installations, and for wheeled vehicles to be sanded 
and painted at the contractor's own facility.  Millbrook argues that 
the requirement that the wheeled vehicles be sanded and painted at the 
contractor's own facility is unnecessary and unduly restricts 
competition; Millbrook wants to work on the wheeled vehicles at 
government installations in the firm's mobile booths.

We deny the protest. 

The determination of an agency's minimum needs, and the best method of 
accommodating them, is primarily within the agency's discretion.  ViON 
Corp.,       B-256363, June 15, 1994, 94-1 CPD  para.  373 at 8.  We will 
not question an agency's assessment of its minimum needs absent a 
clear showing that the assessment is unreasonable.  Tri-County Fence 
Co., Inc., B-209262.2, Apr. 12, 1983, 83-1 CPD   para.  381 at 3.  

The Army explains that the decision to have the wheeled vehicles 
painted at an off-premises facility was based on environmental 
concerns.[1]  The paint dust and fumes resulting from contract 
performance are hazardous wastes which, according to the Army, are 
difficult to contain within a mobile booth.  The Army is concerned 
with the potential economic and political ramifications in the event 
of an environmental violation on a U.S. installation in Germany, 
especially if the air or water supply outside the installation were 
threatened.  The Army thus decided that, while the tracked vehicles 
had to be painted on the installations because they cannot be readily 
moved over the roads, and because they contain features and components 
which for security reasons must remain under Army control, it could 
limit the potential for environmental problems by having the wheeled 
vehicles painted at the contractor's own facility. 

The Army's justification is adequate to support the off-premises 
requirement.  While Millbrook argues that it has taken steps to reduce 
the escape of paint dust and fumes into the air during its performance 
of past contracts, Millbrook has not shown that the Army's 
environmental concerns are not legitimate.  In this regard, given that 
it is unrefuted that there is no assurance that paint dust and fumes 
can be 100-percent contained, it is self-evident that the presence of 
a painting operation involving hazardous materials has the potential 
for causing environmental problems.  It is reasonable for the Army to 
structure its requirement to eliminate this possibility.

The protest is denied.

Comptroller General
of the United States

1. The Army also believed that performing the work on the 
installations would require too much space.  We need not address this 
point, since we find that the Army's environmental concerns were 
sufficient to justify the off-premises requirement.