*NEWS*OFFICE DEPOT CRYING FOUL OVER……

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Date: Tuesday August 28, 2007 12:16:00 pm
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  • Anonymous
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    Depot ‘crying foul’ over small business contracts
    August
    2007 — Delray Beach (FL): In a new twist to news that the GSA awarded
    11 small businesses with government office supply contacts, reports
    suggest that retail giant Office Depot has filed a protest.Depot, which
    failed to secure a blanket purchase agreement last week, is protesting
    on the grounds that seven of the 11 small businesses do not qualify as
    small business as office products are not made by the so-called small
    firms.But, the Small Business Administration waived the
    ‘non-manufacturer rule’ set by US federal law, which stipulates that
    firms given small-business contract must manufacture the products
    themselves or distribute those produced by another small business.

    In
    the protest lodged with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the
    seven businesses named include: Adams Marketing, Future Solutions,
    George W Allen, Metro Office Products, SITA Business Systems, Stephens
    Office Supply and Veterans Imaging Products.Michael Tucker, president
    of George W Allen, said: “I think it is odd that Office Depot, who
    recently won awards with the Federal Aviation Administration, IRS and
    Homeland Security, would be crying foul because they didn’t win this
    one. The fact they’re naming small businesses is even more hard to
    figure.”A spokesman for Office Depot refused to comment while “legal
    matters were pending”.The two large corporations to have secured the
    GSA contracts, Staples and Corporate Express, were not named in the
    protest.

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