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.