BNUMBER:  B-280441.2           
DATE:  July 8, 1998
TITLE: STPC, Inc., B-280441.2, July 8, 1998
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Matter of:STPC, Inc.

File:B-280441.2          
        
Date:July 8, 1998 

James R. Harris, Esq., Harris & Greenwell, L.L.P., for the protester. 
Jerold D. Cohen, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, 
participated in the preparation of the decision.

DIGEST

GAO will not consider a protest alleging that an agency issued a task 
order to a vendor that submitted an unacceptable task-order proposal 
in a competition among firms holding indefinite-delivery, 
indefinite-quantity contracts covering the work involved.  The law 
specifically provides that a protest is not authorized in connection 
with the issuance of a task order except for a protest alleging that 
the order increases the scope, period, or maximum value of the 
contract under which the order is issued.  

DECISION

STPC, Inc. protests the issuance of a task order to Southern 
Contracting, Inc. to install new siding on certain housing units at 
the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas.  We dismiss the 
protest.

STPC, Southern, and two other firms hold indefinite-delivery, 
indefinite-quantity contracts with the Small Business Administration 
(SBA), awarded through the section 8(a) program, for construction, 
renovations, alterations, and repair of Navy shore facilities located 
in the south Texas area.  The prime contract between the SBA and the 
Navy (no. N62467-97-D-0964) provides that the four contractors compete 
for task orders; each firm is guaranteed a minimum of $75,000 worth of 
work.  According to the protester, for the particular task order in 
issue here, three of the four firms responded to the Navy's request 
for task-order proposals, in which the agency specified a number of 
technical evaluation criteria and advised that the lowest-priced 
technically acceptable proposal would be selected.  STPC protests that 
Southern's lower-priced task-order proposal should have been found 
unacceptable. 

We will not review the Navy's selection of Southern for the work.  The 
law specifically provides that a protest is "not authorized" in 
connection with the 
issuance of a task order except for a protest alleging that the order 
increases the scope, period, or maximum value of the contract under 
which the order is issued.  
10 U.S.C.A.  sec.  2304c(d) (West Supp. 1998).  STPC's protest therefore is 
dismissed.

Comptroller General 
of the United States