Waiver of First Article Testing Requirement

A firm protested a contracting officer's decision not to waive first article testing on its ignition coil parts kits under an invitation for bids (IFB) issued by the Army. The protester asserted that the evaluation of its otherwise low bid to include first article testing costs was arbitrary and capricious and not in the best interest of the Government. Specifically, the protester alleged that it provided the Army sufficient evidence to show that its vendor had been certified by the Government for many years as a qualified source of ignition coils. According to the vendor, its ignition coils were the subject of first article testing and approval about 10 years ago. Since then, the vendor had supplied a large quantity of ignition coils to the Government which had been on Government's qualified parts list (QPL) for many years. However, for waiver of first article testing, the IFB required bidders to submit a copy of previously approved first article test reports and to identify those contracts under which the same or similar part had been previously accepted by the Government. The protester's bid indicated that it had supplied the item to the Government under two listed contracts about 5 years previously. When, after bid opening, the protester advised that the item would be furnished by a QPL source, the Army noted that the applicable product drawing indicated that the QPL listing did not apply. Army regulations require that, when production has been delayed or interrupted by 1 year or more by a former producer of an item, first article testing should take place. GAO held that a decision not to waive first article testing of a particular offeror is an administrative one which it will not disturb unless it is clearly arbitrary or capricious. Accordingly, the protest was denied.