A protester’s failure to be specific enough in an SDVOSB status protest will result in dismissal of the protest.

The decision of the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals in Jamaica Bearings Company, SBA No. VET-257 (Aug. 9, 2016), reinforces the SBA’s rule concerning specificity in filing a service disabled veteran-owned status protest. The rule provides, “[p]rotests must be in writing and must specify all the grounds upon which the protest is based. A protest merely asserting that the protested concern is not an eligible SDVOSB, without setting forth specific facts or allegations is insufficient.”

Jamaica Bearings involved a solicitation issued as an SDVOSB set-aside by the Defense Logistics Agency for 77 Parts Kits, Linear AC. Jamaica Bearings Company (JBC) was awarded the contract. JBL System Solutions, Inc. (JBL), an unsuccessful offeror, submitted a timely protest stating, “‘while [JBC] may or may not be owned and operated by a qualified Service Disabled Veteran, they do not meet the qualifications of the SBA to be a Small Business.’ (Protest, at 1),” and added that due to Jamaica Bearing Company’s size, the company should not pretend to be an SDVOSB.

Although the protester offered no evidence to support its claim that JBC “may” not be an eligible SDVOSB, the SBA’s Director of Government Contracting (D/GC) initiated a full investigation of JBC’s SDVOSB eligibility. JBC (for reasons unexplained in OHA’s decision) did not respond to the D/GC’s inquiries. Thus, the D/GC apparently applied an “adverse inference” and assumed that JBC’s response would demonstrate that it was not an eligible SDVOSB. The D/GC issued a decision finding JBC to be ineligible for the DLA contract.

JBC appealed the decision to OHA. JBC argued that it was an eligible SDVOSB and that another SBA office had previously confirmed JBC’s SDVOSB status.  The SBA’s legal counsel filed a response to the appeal, supporting the D/GC’s decision.

Although neither party had raised it in its initial filings, OHA–on its own initiative–asked the parties to address “whether the D/GC should have dismissed the initial status protest by JBL as nonspecific.” Unsurprisingly, JBC responded by stating that the protest was not specific and should have been dismissed; the SBA claimed that the protest was specific.

OHA wrote that, under its regulations, a viable SDVOSB protest must provide specific reasons why the protested SDVOSB is alleged to be ineligible. Insufficient protests must be dismissed. Further, OHA noted, the regulations provide the following example:

A protester submits a protest stating that the awardee’s owner is not a service-disabled veteran. The protest does not state any basis for this assertion. The protest allegation is insufficient.

In this case, OHA wrote, “the protest does not even rise to this level, as the protest simply states that [JBC] ‘may or may not’ be controlled by a service-disabled veteran.” The protest “does not directly allege that [JBC] is not owned and controlled by a service-disabled veteran, and gives no reason which would support such an assertion.”

OHA wrote that “the D/GC was required to dismiss JBL’s protest because it simply failed to be specific enough as to challenge [JBC’s] service-disabled status.” OHA granted JBC’s SDVOSB appeal and reversed the D/GC’s status determination.

As highlighted in Jamaica Bearings, SDVOSB status protest must be “specific.” However, the exact level specificity required under the regulations remains a bit fuzzy (although other OHA decision offer some guidance). Regardless of where the line is drawn in a particular case, Jamaica Bearings confirms that it is not enough for the protester to make an unsupported blanket allegation that an awardee is ineligible.