United States Government Accountability Office 

Washington, DC 20548 

Comptroller General

of the United States

 

 

Decision 

Matter of: Ideal Fastener Corporation 

File: B-404206 

Date: January 11, 2011 

Marc Lamer, Esq., Kostos & Lamer, PC, for the protester. 

Seth Bogin, Esq., and William Robinson, Esq., Department of Justice, for the agency. 

Brent A. Burris, Esq., Eric M. Ransom, Esq., and Edward T. Goldstein, Esq., Office of 

the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. 

DIGEST 

Protest challenging UNICOR’s use of the term “fasteners,” rather than “slide 

fasteners,” in title of solicitation notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities 

website is denied where the solicitation notice was not misleading, and thus did not 

deprive the protester of an opportunity to respond to the solicitation. 

DECISION 

Ideal Fastener Corporation (IFC), of Oxford, North Carolina, protests request for 

proposals (RFP) No. CT2025-10, issued by Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) for 

twenty-two commercial products to be used in the manufacture of military uniforms. 

IFC argues that the title of the synopsis for the solicitation posted by UNICOR on the 

Federal Business Opportunities website (FedBizOpps)1

 was misleading where it 

referenced “fasteners,” rather than the actual solicitation requirement for “slide 

fasteners,” and thus, frustrated IFC’s ability to respond to the solicitation. 

We deny the protest. 

 

1

 FedBizOpps, www.fbo.gov, is the government-wide point of entry (“GPE”) for the 

electronic publication of solicitation notices. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 

§ 2.101 (2010). 
BACKGROUND 

UNICOR uses production facilities located in correctional institutions operated by 

the Federal Bureau of Prisons to produce various goods and services for government 

agencies. Contracting Officer’s (CO) Statement, at 1. Among the goods UNICOR 

produces are military uniforms, including Army Combat Uniforms (“ACUs”) and 

Battle Dress Uniforms (“BDUs”), for the Department of the Army. Id. As such, 

UNICOR periodically purchases items such as hook and loop fasteners (commonly 

known as Velcro) and slide fasteners (commonly known as zippers) for use in the 

manufacture of these military uniforms. Id. 

On August 19, 2010, pursuant to FAR § 12.603, UNICOR posted the RFP as a 

combined synopsis/solicitation on FedBizOpps.gov. UNICOR titled the combined 

synopsis/solicitation “Commercial Items, Hook & Loop, Fasteners, Barrell Locks for 

ACU & BDU’s.” AR, Tab 3, FedBizOpps Solicitation Notice for CT2025-10, at 1. The 

synopsis described the products to be purchased under the RFP as “Fasteners, used 

in the manufacture of Army Combat Uniforms (ACU’s), Battle Dress Uniforms 

(BDU’s), and Special Purpose Clothing” and advised that a “complete description of 

the items” was contained in section B of the RFP, which could be obtained by 

clicking on a web-link. Id. at 1-2. The combined synopsis/solicitation also included a 

link to a document entitled “Item Specification Text,” which, together with the RFP, 

identified, and described in detail, the twenty-two individual items UNICOR sought 

to procure. RFP at 2-18; AR, Tab 5, Item Specification Text, at 1-9. These items were 

six types of hooks, eight types of loops, seven types of slide fasteners (varying in 

length and color), and one type of barrel lock. The solicitation also stated that 

UNICOR intended to make three separate awards under the solicitation, one for the 

hook and loop items, one for the slide fasteners, and one for the barrel locks. AR, 

Tab 4, Solicitation No. CT2025-10, at 19. 

IFC explains that it is a long-time supplier of slide fasteners to the federal 

government but that it does not produce hook and loop fasteners. Protest, at 2-3. 

While conducting a search of FedBizOpps for potential contracting opportunities, 

one of IFC’s employees viewed the title of the notice for the combined 

synopsis/solicitation; however, because the title did not use the term “slide 

fasteners” or “zippers,” the employee did not open the link to the actual synopsis, 

which would have led IFC to the RFP and item specifications. Id. at 2. As a result, 

IFC did not submit a proposal in response to the RFP. Upon learning that the RFP 

provided for the award of a contract for slide fasteners, albeit after the RFP’s closing 

date had passed, IFC filed the subject protest with our Office. 

Page 2 B-404206 
DISCUSSION 

IFC argues that by using the term “fasteners” instead of the more specific terms 

“slide fasteners” or “zippers” in the title of the combined synopsis/solicitation, 

UNICOR failed to properly identify the procurement on FedBizOpps and thereby 

frustrated IFC’s ability to compete for the slide fasteners portion of the procurement. 

Protest at 3. In support of this premise, IFC cites three previous notices posted to 

FedBizOpps in which UNICOR used the words “slide fasteners” and “zippers” in the 

titles as opposed to the term “fasteners.” Protester Comments, at 1. IFC’s arguments 

are without merit. 

The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 generally requires that contracting 

agencies obtain full and open competition through the use of competitive 

procedures. 41 U.S.C. § 253(a)(1)(A) (2006). In furtherance of this goal, agencies are 

required to use reasonable methods to publicize their procurement needs. Kendall 

Healthcare Prods. Co., B-289381, Feb. 19, 2002, 2002 CPD ¶ 42 at 6. The official 

public medium for providing notice of contracting actions by federal agencies is the 

FedBizOpps website, which has been designated by statute and regulation as the 

government-wide point of entry. 15 U.S.C. § 637(e); 41 U.S.C. § 416; FAR §§ 2.101, 

5.101(a)(1), 5.201(d). The notice provided by an agency must include an “accurate 

description” of the property or services to be purchased, sufficient to provide 

prospective offerors with the ability to make an informed business judgment as to 

whether to request a copy of the solicitation,2

see 41 U.S.C. § 416(b)(1); TMI 

Management Sys., Inc., B-401530, Sept. 28, 2009, 2009 CPD ¶ 191 at 3. 

Here, the combined synopsis/solicitation posted by UNICOR on FedBizOpps was not 

misleading and provided potential offerors, such as IFC, with notice of the intended 

procurement, which included the acquisition of slide fasteners. As IFC concedes, 

the term “fasteners,” which appeared in the title of the combined 

synopsis/solicitation, refers to a number of different commercial items--including 

slide fasteners. Protest at 2-3. Given that slide fasteners are a type of fastener, the 

title of the combined synopsis/solicitation accurately reflected the fact that the RFP 

may have potentially included a requirement for slide fasteners. It was therefore 

incumbent on IFC to review the actual synopsis, RFP, and items specifications, all of 

which were easily available to IFC, to determine whether the procurement in fact 

 

2

 Although the relevant statutes and our decisions citing them refer to prospective 

contractors requesting a copy of the solicitation, in this case, as noted above, 

UNICOR posted its notice as a combined synopsis/solicitation. As such, the RFP was 

available to all interested offerors, including IFC, through the initial FedBizOpps 

posting, without having to actually request a copy. 

Page 3 B-404206 
included a requirement slide fasteners.3

 In this regard, we have held that potential 

offerors such as IFC have an affirmative duty to make every reasonable effort to 

obtain solicitation materials. See Jess Bruner Fire Suppression, B-296533, Aug. 19, 

2005, 2005 CPD ¶ 163, at 3-4. 

IFC suggests that UNICOR had established a practice of using the more specific 

terms slide fasteners or zippers, as opposed to the more general term fasteners, 

when posting notices of procurements for slide fasteners, and that using these 

specific terms would have been more appropriate.4 IFC’s arguments do not provide 

a basis for finding the agency’s actions unreasonable or improper. There is nothing 

in the record to indicate that UNICOR had an official policy of using these more 

specific terms. To the contrary, UNICOR notes--and IFC does not dispute--that it has 

on at least two separate occasions posted solicitations to FedBizOpps which 

contained only the word “fasteners” in the title, including one in which the protester 

was awarded a contract for slide fasteners. AR, Tab 14, Notice of Award for 

Solicitation No. CT1835-07, at 1; AR, Tab 15, Notice of Award for Solicitation No. 

CT1704-05, at 1. It is apparent that IFC’s belief regarding how UNICOR titled its 

solicitation notices was an assumption made by IFC, and IFC therefore bore the risk 

that its assumption was incorrect. As we have held, each procurement is a separate 

transaction, and an agency’s practices or actions under one procurement do not bind 

its practices or actions on other procurements. See Southern CAD/CAM, B-254201, 

 

3

 IFC argues that our decision in TMI Management Sys. Inc., supra, at 3, supports its 

contention that UNICOR’s use of the term “fasteners” in the title of the notice was 

improper. Protest at 3. The protester’s reliance on TMI is misplaced. In TMI we 

found that the agency had used an erroneous classification in its notice, which made 

it “difficult, if not impossible” for the protester to locate the solicitation notice using 

reasonable search terms. TMI Management Systems, Inc., supra, at 5. Unlike TMI, 

here, it is undisputed that UNICOR used the appropriate codes in classifying the 

solicitation and its actions did not make it difficult, or otherwise impossible to locate 

the solicitation notice. To the contrary, one of IFC’s employees in fact located the 

solicitation notice, but decided not to review the synopsis or RFP. 

4

 While the protester also contends that the title was misleading because the words 

“Hook & Loop, Fasteners” could possibly be read together as one item, rather than 

separate items, we reject this argument. Without delving into the rules of grammar, 

it is enough to say that the location of the word “Fasteners” in the title “Commercial 

Items, Hook & Loop, Fasteners, Barrell Locks for ACU & BDU’s”, did not indicate 

that the agency was not purchasing slide fasteners and was not so confusing that it 

deprived IFC of an opportunity to compete under the solicitation. 

Page 4 B-404206 
Page 5 B-404206 

Nov. 16, 1993, 93-2 CPD ¶ 278 at 4; see also The Standard Register Company, 

B-289579, March 5, 2002, 2002 CPD ¶54 at 2-3 (an agency is not bound by its prior 

practices “since past practice lacks the force and effect of law”). 

 

The protest is denied. 

Lynn H. Gibson 

General Counsel