Summary

A firm protested an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) solicitation for background investigations, contending that the (1) solicitation's provision prohibiting bidders from photocopying or removing solicitation materials from OPM's reading room was unduly restrictive and placed it at a competitive disadvantage and (2) other bidder had an organizational conflict of interest and should not be eligible for award. GAO held that (1) all bidders had equal access to the reading room materials two weeks prior to bid closing and (2) the protest against the other bidder's eligibility was premature, since OPM had not made a final determination regarding award eligibility. Accordingly, the protest was denied.