Opinion ID: 510090
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Initial Solicitation

Text: 2 On June 30, 1986, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued Solicitation No. vpa-qv-vftbfor ADP equipment, with the purpose of procuring multiuser, multitasking computer systems for the Indian Health Service [IHS] Area Offices, Service Units, Hospitals, facilities, and Tribal/638 contracted health care facilities, to be located throughout the United States. 3 Section C.1 of the solicitation set forth twenty-four pages of Mandatory Specifications. The Mandatory Specifications called for three computer systems, denoted A, B, and C, each to consist of a central processing unit (CPU), and more or less peripheral equipment, depending on the system. Section C.1.2.1.6 required that [e]ach system proposed shall be based on a minimum sixteen (16) bit CPU architecture. During negotiations, one offeror requested the government to modify the solicitation to require, at a minimum, a thirty-two bit processor, in order to provide a CPU architecture with the flexibility, power, and growth potential to handle IHS's needs. The government did not concur with the recommended change, and, in a tersely worded response, maintained that a sixteen bit CPU would meet its requirements.