MorphoTrust USA, LLC
B-412711 · gao · 2016-05-16
Summary
GAO (Comptroller General, 2016) decision denying MorphoTrust's protest that TSA had to use a procurement contract, rather than an "other transaction" agreement, for its TSA Pre✓ Application Expansion Initiative. GAO held that TSA's broad OT authority under 49 U.S.C. § 106(l)(6) ("such contracts, leases, cooperative agreements, or other transactions as may be necessary to carry out the functions") authorized the initiative, that OTs are not procurement contracts subject to GAO's bid-protest jurisdiction, and that GAO reviews only whether an agency is improperly using its OT authority. It is a leading articulation of the OT/protest-jurisdiction line and the narrow "improper use" exception, and is repeatedly cited in later OT cases including SpaceX.