Calvary Contracting, Inc. (B-424024)

You should not care.

Category: Responsibility, SBA certificate of competency

Date: 13 January 2026

URL: https://www.gao.gov/products/b-424024

Calvary protested the VA’s decision to reject its low bid for a renovation project after the agency found the firm nonresponsible and SBA refused to issue a certificate of competency. The dispute ultimately went nowhere because GAO generally does not second-guess SBA’s COC decisions.

The VA’s responsibility concerns centered on scheduling risk, including a prior termination for default and other adverse performance information. When the matter was referred to SBA, Calvary’s own COC submission included a preliminary schedule that stretched roughly a year beyond the solicitation’s required completion period. SBA then declined to issue the COC.

GAO dismissed the protest. It held that challenges to a small business nonresponsibility finding are for SBA, not GAO, absent narrow exceptions that Calvary did not establish. GAO also rejected the argument that the VA had to let Calvary fix the schedule it submitted to SBA, noting the cited clerical-error rule applies to apparent mistakes in bids, not errors in a later COC application.

The protest is dismissed.

Digest

Protest challenging the agency's initial non-responsibility determination and subsequent affirmance after the Small Business Administration (SBA) refused to issue the protester a certificate of competency (COC) is denied as legally and factually insufficient where our Office does not generally review protests challenging the SBA's refusal to issue a COC absent circumstances not present here.