South Bay Sand Blasting and Tank Cleaning, Inc., No. 4272
(October 7, 1997).  Docket No. SIC-97-9-5-38

                               
                    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
                  SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
                 OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS
                        WASHINGTON, D.C.

________________________________
                                )
SIC APPEAL OF:                  )
                                )
South Bay Sand Blasting and     )
Tank Cleaning, Inc.             )
                                )
     Appellant                  )   Docket No. SIC-97-9-5-38
                                )
Solicitation No.                )   Decided: October 7, 1997
N00604-97-R-0039                )
Fleet & Industrial Supply Center)
Regional Contracting Department )
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii            )
________________________________)

                           APPEARANCES
                                
                          for Appellant
                                
                         Steven Haggerty
                                
                                
                             DIGEST
                                
     The appropriate Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
code for a procurement which requires the contractor to pump
waste oil and water on a naval base, after Navy personnel have
tested the waste material, haul it to the base's Fuel Reclamation
Center, and to dispose only of that material found unusable by
the Fuel Reclamation Center, is 4212, Local Trucking Without
Storage, Garbage and Refuse Collection, with a corresponding
average annual receipts size standard of $6 million.

                            DECISION

HOLLEMAN, Administrative Judge:

                          Jurisdiction

     This appeal is decided under the Small Business Act of 1958,
15  U.S.C. Sections 631 et seq., and 13 C.F.R. Parts 121 and  134
(1996).

                              Issue
                                
     Whether the appropriate SIC code for a procurement dealing
with the pumping, transporting, and disposal of waste oil and
water is properly classified under Standard Industrial
Classification (SIC) code 1389, Oil and Gas Field Services, Not
Elsewhere Classified or SIC code 4212, Local Trucking Without
Storage, Garbage and Refuse Collection.

                         I.   BACKGROUND
                                
                   A.   Procedural Background

     On August 28, 1997, the Contracting Officer (CO) for the
Department of the Navy's Fleet & Industrial Supply Center,
Regional Contracting Department, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Navy),
issued this small business set-aside procurement for services of
vacuum trucks to pump and transport waste oil and water.  The CO
classified the procurement under Standard Industrial
Classification (SIC) code 1389, Oil and Gas Field Services, Not
Elsewhere Classified, with a corresponding size standard of $5
million in average annual receipts.  The solicitation set a
deadline of September 12, 1997 for submission of offers.
     
     On September 5, 1997, South Bay Sand Blasting and Tank
Cleaning, Inc. (Appellant) filed the instant appeal, asserting
the appropriate SIC code for this procurement is 4212, Local
Trucking Without Storage, with a corresponding size standard of
$18.5 million in average annual receipts.  On September 11, 1997,
the CO issued Amendment 1 to the solicitation, which extended the
due date for proposals to September 26th.  On September 12, 1997,
the CO filed a copy of the solicitation with this Office.  The CO
filed no statement in response to the appeal.  On September 15,
1997, the CO issued Amendment 2, making some technical changes to
the solicitation.
     
                               B.
                        The Solicitation

     The solicitation requires the contractor to provide a 2,000
gallon and a 5,000 gallon vacuum truck, for approximately 26
service calls, to pump and transport waste oil and water.  The
contractor will pump the liquid waste material from pits located
at the Pearl Harbor Fleet Industrial Supply Center Fuel
Facilities and transport it to Pearl Harbor's Fuel Reclamation
Plant.  The contractor's trucks must be free of any contaminants,
and are subject to inspection and approval by the Navy's Fuel
Laboratory.  The contractor will obtain shipping documents for
transportation of hazardous material, proceed to designated areas
to pump up liquid waste material, and proceed to the Navy's Fuel
Reclamation Plant to off-load that liquid waste material.

     When the contractor pumps liquid waste material from the
pits which includes any extraneous material, the liquid waste
material is not suitable for the Fuel Reclamation Plant, and the
contractor must dispose of it.  The contractor must provide with
its proposal a written technical proposal for disposal of this
material; the technical proposal must comply with all Federal,
Navy, state of Hawaii and local law and regulations.  However,
the solicitation states the Navy knows of no previous loads of
unsuitable material, because Fuel Department personnel accompany
the contractor and check the pits prior to pumping.  The
solicitation does not require the contractor to dispose of any
material other than the unsuitable material described above.
     
                     C. Arguments on Appeal
                                
     Appellant asserts this procurement is similar to that in
SIC Appeal of M.P. Environ-mental Services, Inc., No. 3950
(1994).  There, the Presiding Judge found SIC code 4212 the
appropriate SIC code for a procurement dealing with the
collection and disposal of oily waste material generated on
ships.

                         II. DISCUSSION
                                
     Appellant filed this appeal within ten calendar days of the
issuance of the solicitation.  Therefore, the instant appeal is
timely.  13 C.F.R. Section 134.304(a)(3).

     In a SIC appeal, Appellant has the burden of proof, by a
preponderance of the evidence, to show error in the CO's SIC code
designation.  SIC Appeal of the Scientific Consulting Group,
Inc., No. 4186 (1996).  The correct SIC code for a procurement is
that which best describes the principal purpose of the services
being procured, in light of the industry description in the SIC
Manual*, the description in the solicitation, and the relative
weight of each element of the solicitation.  Id.; 13 C.F.R.
Section 121.402(b).  The standard of review is whether the SIC
code designation is based on a clear error of fact or law.  13
C.F.R. Section 134.314.

     The SIC Manual describes SIC code 1389, that designated by
the CO, as covering establishments primarily engaged in
performing oil and gas field services.  The SIC Manual cites as
examples building oil and gas well foundations; cleaning, bailing
and swabbing wells; removal of condensate gasoline from field
lines; and chemically treating wells.  Establishments primarily
engaged in hauling oil and gas field supplies are classified in
Division E, Transporta-tion and Public Utilities.  SIC Manual,
pp. 46-7.
     
     The SIC Manual describes SIC code 4212, in Division E, the
SIC code urged by Appellant, as covering establishments primarily
engaged in furnishing trucking or transfer services in a single
metropolitan area, which do not provide storage for freight.  The
SIC Manual cites as examples dump truck hauling, local furniture
moving, and refuse collection without disposal.  Establishments
engaged in collecting and disposing of refuse by processing or
destruction of materials are classified under SIC code 4953,
Refuse Systems.  SIC Manual, p. 270.  However, this SIC code has
two size standards, an average annual receipts size standard of
$18.5 million for the SIC code as a whole; and an exception for
Garbage and Refuse Collection, Without Disposal, which has an
average annual receipts size standard of $6 million.  13 C.F.R.
Section 121.201.
     
     Appellant relies on M.P. Environmental Services, supra,
which held a procurement for the collection and disposal of oily
waste bilge water from naval vessels, which did not require the
contractor to dispose of the refuse in some chemical way, was
properly classified under SIC code 4212.  M.P. Environmental
Services relied on SIC Appeal of Consolidated Marketing Network,
Inc., No. 2387 (1986), which was factually similar to the instant
case, and also held SIC code 4212 was the appropriate
designation.
     
     The instant procurement does not require any of the services
specified under SIC code 1389, which all relate to the operations
of oil and gas fields.  Further, since SIC code 1389 expressly
excludes hauling equipment, it is reasonable to infer that it
also excludes hauling of waste material.  This is especially true
where, as here, the waste material is produced not by oil and gas
drilling operations, but by the operation of naval vessels.
     
     The principal purpose of the instant procurement is the
transporting of waste oil and water to the Fuel Reclamation
Center; the contractor is not required to provide any storage.
The disposal of waste matter is incidental to the contract, as
the only disposal required is that of contaminated loads the Fuel
Reclamation Center cannot handle.  These contaminated loads are
likely to be rare, because Navy personnel will test the waste
materials prior to the contractor's pumping them into its trucks.
Thus, the requirements of the instant procurement very closely
match the services included in SIC code 4212.  This is consistent
with this Office's precedent, noted above, classifying
procurements which require the hauling of waste material - but no
disposal - under SIC code 4212.
     
     The Presiding Judge therefore finds that Appellant has met
its burden of establishing the CO's SIC code designation is based
on an error of fact or law, and that the appropriate SIC code for
the instant procurement is 4212, Local Trucking Without Storage,
Garbage and Refuse Collection, with a corresponding average
annual receipts size standard of $6 million in average annual
receipts.

                      III.      CONCLUSION

      The correct SIC code for this procurement is SIC code 4212.
The Contracting Officer's designation is REVERSED, and the appeal
is GRANTED.
     
     This  is the Small Business Administration's final decision.
13 C.F.R. Section 134.316(b).

                              ______________________________
                              CHRISTOPHER HOLLEMAN
                              Administrative Judge

_______________________________
       *Standard  Industrial  Classification  Manual,  Office  of
Management and Budget, 1987 edition.

                                  Posted: October, 1997