Editorial Note on Part 121
Editorial Note: Nomenclature changes to part 121 appear at 72 FR 50039 and 50040, Aug. 30, 2007.

§ 121.1004 What time limits apply to size protests? ( a ) *Protests by entities other than contracting officers or SBA* — ( 1 ) *Sealed bids or sales (including protests on partial set-asides and reserves of Multiple Award Contracts and set-asides of orders against Multiple Award Contracts).* ( i ) A protest must be received by the contracting officer prior to the close of business on the 5th day, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after bid opening for ( A ) The contract;
( B ) An order issued against a Multiple Award Contract if the contracting officer requested a new size certification in connection with that order; or
( C ) Except for orders or Blanket Purchase Agreements issued under any Federal Supply Schedule contract, an order or Blanket Purchase Agreement set aside for small business (*i.e.,* small business set-aside, 8(a) small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, or women-owned small business) where the underlying Multiple Award Contract was awarded on an unrestricted basis.
( ii ) Where the identified low bidder is determined to be ineligible for award, a protest of any other identified low bidder must be received prior to the close of business on the 5th day, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after the contracting officer has notified interested parties of the identity of that low bidder.
( 2 ) *Negotiated procurement (including protests on partial set-asides and reserves of Multiple Award Contracts and set-asides of orders against Multiple Award Contracts).* A protest must be received by the contracting officer prior to the close of business on the 5th day, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after the contracting officer has notified the protestor of the identity of the prospective awardee for ( i ) The contract; or
( ii ) An order issued against a Multiple Award Contract if the contracting officer requested a size recertification in connection with that order; or
( iii ) Except for orders or Blanket Purchase Agreements issued under any Federal Supply Schedule contract, an order or Blanket Purchase Agreement set-aside for small business (*i.e.,* small business set-aside, 8(a) small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, or women-owned small business) where the underlying Multiple Award Contract was awarded on an unrestricted basis without a reserve.
( 3 ) *Long-Term Contracts.* For contracts with durations greater than five years (including options), including all existing long-term contracts, Multi-agency contracts, Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts and Multiple Award Contracts: ( i ) Protests regarding size certifications made for contracts must be received by the contracting officer prior to the close of business on the 5th day, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after receipt of notice (including notice received in writing, orally, or via electronic posting) of the identity of the prospective awardee or award.
( ii ) Protests regarding size certifications made for an option period must be received by the contracting officer prior to the close of business on the 5th day, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after receipt of notice (including notice received in writing, orally, or via electronic posting) of the size certification made by the protested concern. ( A ) A contracting officer is not required to terminate a contract where a concern is found to be other than small pursuant to a size protest concerning a size certification made for an option period.
( B ) [Reserved]
( iii ) Protests relating to size certifications made in response to a contracting officer's request for size certifications in connection with an individual order must be received by the contracting officer prior to the close of business on the 5th day, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after receipt of notice (including notice received in writing, orally, or via electronic posting) of the identity of the prospective awardee or award.
( 4 ) *Electronic notification of award.* Where notification of award is made electronically, such as posting on the Internet under Simplified Acquisition Procedures, a protest must be received by the contracting officer before close of business on the fifth day, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after the electronic posting.
( 5 ) *No notice of award.* Where there is no requirement for written pre-award notice or notice of award, or where the contracting officer has failed to provide written notification of award, the 5-day protest period will commence upon oral notification by the contracting officer or authorized representative or another means (such as public announcements or other oral communications) of the identity of the apparent successful offeror.
( b ) *Protests by contracting officers, funding agreement officers or SBA.* The time limitations in paragraph (a) of this section do not apply to contracting officers, funding agreement officers or SBA, and they may file protests before or after awards, except to the extent set forth in paragraph (e) of this section, including for purposes of the SBIR and STTR programs. Notwithstanding paragraph (e), for purposes of the SBIR and STTR programs the funding agreement officer or SBA may file a protest in anticipation of an award.
( c ) *Effect of contract award.* A timely filed protest applies to the procurement in question even though a contracting officer awarded the contract prior to receipt of the protest.
( d ) *Untimely protests.* A protest received after the allotted time limits must still be forwarded to SBA. SBA will dismiss untimely protests.
( e ) *Premature protests.* A protest filed by any party, including the contracting officer, before bid opening or notification to offerors of the selection of the apparent successful offer will be dismissed as premature.
( f ) *Apparent successful offeror.* A party with standing, as set forth in § 121.1001(a), may file a protest only against an apparent successful offeror or an offeror in line to receive an award.
( g ) *Bid protest corrective action.* SBA will generally dismiss any size protest relating to an initial apparent successful offeror where an agency decides to reevaluate offers as a corrective action in response to a FAR subpart 33.1 bid protest. ( 1 ) SBA will complete the size determination where the procuring agency makes a written request to SBA within two business days of the agency informing SBA of the corrective action and demonstrates that the corrective action will not result in a change of the apparent successful offeror, unless the protest involves size issues determined as of the date of final proposal revision per § 121.404(d).
( 2 ) When the apparent successful offeror is announced after reevaluation, interested parties will again have the opportunity to protest the size of the new or same apparent successful offeror within five business days after such notification.
[61 FR 3286, Jan. 31, 1996, as amended at 69 FR 29206, May 21, 2004; 71 FR 66444, Nov. 15, 2006; 77 FR 76227, Dec. 27, 2012; 78 FR 61132, Oct. 2, 2013; 85 FR 66182, Oct. 16, 2020; 88 FR 26202, Apr. 27, 2023]