Army Materials Command skipped a competitive bidding process for short-term cyber training services, citing urgent need while it waits for a bid protest to be resolved.
“The growth of the Cyber threat to the Armed Forces mandates that the cybersecurity and tactical network management efforts for Program Executive Offices and [Major Army Commands] continue without interruption,” reads a notice of the justification published on Beta.sam.gov Monday. “A lapse in services would have impacted and/or delayed operational requirements at the tactical level, resulting in increased cost to the Government as well as the risk for potential loss of life during operational deployments.”
The Army’s contracting command awarded a $5.6 million bridge task order to Beshenich Muir & Associates, LLC, or BMA, on Jan.11 to provide support to the Regional Signal Training Sites of the U.S. Army Signal School at the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence. The contract comes with a three-month base period, to account for the adjudication of the protest of an initial task order issued to BMA on Nov. 23 from Obxtek, Inc. The bridge task order also has an additional three-month optional period in case there’s a supplemental protest.
A decision on the protest, which is not publicly available, is due from the Government Accountability office March 29 and Obxtek said it generally doesn’t comment on open cases.
Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2021/02/army-awards-5m-bridge-contract-cyber-training/171973/
John Winslett of Bristol, Rhode Island, was sentenced on Jan. 15th to 70 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
The central question surrounding the case was whether the U.S. Army could cancel a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 8 service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) set-aside procurement under the General Services Administration’s Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) and move the requirement to a multiple-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (MAIDIQ) contract vehicle that the plaintiff, The Tolliver Group, Inc. (Tolliver), did not hold.
By March, Army Futures Command plans to award an offeror with an agreement to establish a program that would start with coding workshops and beginner training and, after five years, end with a scalable government-only software development facility.
The U.S. Army selected 10 projects addressing military technology gaps for prototyping under a small business pilot program meant to speed the development life cycle, according to a press release.
