Imminent Qualification As Source Must Be Considered By Agency

In Barnes Aerospace Group (Dec. 26, 2006, http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/298864.pdf), GAO sustained a challenge to the Air Force's sole-source award for the repair of certain "aviation critical safety item" aircraft parts to the purportedly lone qualified source. GAO found that (1) the Air Force improperly proceeded on the basis of a sole-source justification (prepared even before the pre-solicitation notice was issued) that did not consider the protester's potentially imminent qualification as a second approved source, and (2) the Air Force engaged in unequal treatment by ignoring the awardee's own failure to requalify as an approved source.