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B-294881 1 (2005-01-03)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaqsy0001 and id is 1 raw text is: G A O Comptroller General Accountabihty Integrity Reliability of the United States United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 Decision Matter of: American College of Physicians Services, Inc.; COLA File: B-294881; B-294881.2 Date: January 3, 2005 Mark A. Friend, American College of Physicians Services, Inc.; Richard D. Lieberman, Esq., and Karen R. O'Brien, Esq., McCarthy, Sweeney & Harkaway, for COLA, the protesters. David H. Turner, Esq., Department of the Navy, for the agency. Ralph 0. White, Esq., and Christine S. Melody, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1. Contention that a solicitation unduly restricts competition by bundling the procurement of accreditation services and laboratory proficiency testing in a single contract is denied where the agency reasonably explains that procuring both services under the same contract is necessary to meet the agency's needs for maintaining its medical laboratories. 2. Contention that the agency violated the restriction, found at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) § 12.302(c), against including terms and conditions in a commercial item procurement that are inconsistent with customary commercial practices by bundling the purchase of two commercial items into a single procurement is denied because the regulatory restriction, on its face, applies to terms and conditions used to procure commercial items, and cannot properly be read as a supplemental restriction against bundling, nor can it reasonably be read as a supplement to the definition of a commercial item found at FAR § 2.101. DECISION American College of Physicians Services, Inc. (ACPS) and COLA' protest the terms of request for proposals (RFP) No. N00140-04-R-0102, issued by the Department of the Navy to procure professional accreditation services and proficiency testing for 'The protester advises that COLA is not an acronym.