award protest | The Contracting Education Academy

September 9, 2020 By cs

Pentagon awards JEDI cloud contract to Microsoft for the second time

The decision follows a months-long legal challenge filed by Amazon Web Services.

The Pentagon awarded its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud computing contract Friday to Microsoft.

The decision follows a 10-month legal battle initiated by Amazon Web Services after the Pentagon selected Microsoft in October 2019 for the contract, worth up to $10 billion over the next 10 years if all options are exercised.

The award comes after numerous controversies and delays for JEDI — in addition to four legal protests filed by companies once in the running for it — that has the contract two years behind schedule.

“The Department has completed its comprehensive re-evaluation of the JEDI Cloud proposals and determined that Microsoft’s proposal continues to represent the best value to the government,” the department said in a statement Friday.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2020/09/pentagon-awards-jedi-cloud-contract-microsoft-second-time/168259/

August 18, 2020 By cs

Pentagon requests more time to review JEDI cloud contract bids

The Defense Department says it wants to further discuss Microsoft’s and Amazon Web Services’ pricing.

In a court filing on Aug. 10th, the Defense Department requested a 30-day extension to issue an award decision in its multibillion-dollar Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract.

The Defense Department had planned to award JEDI by Aug. 17 after numerous delays, including a 120-day remand sought by the agency in March to take corrective action on issues identified in a legal protest by Amazon Web Services after the Pentagon initially awarded Microsoft the contract in October.

“During the remand, DoD has identified areas of concern with respect to the revised proposals received from both offerors, resulting in multiple solicitation amendments, rounds of proposal revisions, and exchanges with the offerors,” the filing states. “In evaluating each offeror’s final proposal revisions, however, DoD has recently identified the need to reopen limited discussions related to certain aspects of the offerors’ pricing proposals.”

The filing indicates both companies would have another chance to submit questions and a revised bid.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2020/08/pentagon-requests-more-time-review-jedi-cloud-contract-bids/167599/

July 24, 2020 By cs

Two firms renew legal challenges to DoD’s $7 billion moving contract

A Pentagon contract meant to completely overhaul the military’s system for moving service members’ belongings around the world is once again under protest.

The same two companies who had initially challenged the $7.2 billion Global Household Goods Contract (GHC) in May filed new bid protests at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) this week, meaning the contract could continue to be tied up until Oct. 21, the due date for GAO to rule on the latest round of challenges.

GAO dismissed protests by Connected Global Alliance LLC, and HomeSafe Alliance LLC late last month after U.S. Transportation Command pledged to take corrective action on at least one of the issues they raised in their complaints. But less than two weeks later, TRANSCOM announced it wouldn’t be taking any corrective action after all, and re-awarded the contract to the same vendor it initially picked for the award, American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC).

“The decision to re-award GHC in light of the serious issues raised is extremely disappointing,” Al Thompson, HomeSafe’s CEO said in a statement. “We are confident GAO will agree that errors have been made on a major contract that touches every member of the armed forces and their families.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2020/07/two-firms-renew-legal-challenges-to-dods-7b-moving-contract/

See earlier article about this subject at: https://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/2020/07/09/transcom-allegations-unsubstantiated-awards-7-2-billion-contract-to-privatize-household-goods-moves/

July 9, 2020 By cs

TRANSCOM: Allegations ‘unsubstantiated,’ awards $7.2 billion contract to privatize household goods moves

U.S. Transportation Command officials have confirmed their award to a New Jersey company of a $7.2 billion contract to outsource management of service members’ household goods, according to a statement from the command.

Allegations made against the company, American Roll On Roll Off Carrier Group, of Parsippany, N.J., were “unsubstantiated,” TRANSCOM officials said, resulting in the confirmation of the award Monday.

The $7.2 billion contract covers a nine-month transition period and three-year base period. But if all the options are exercised, the contract will be worth about $20 billion over nine years. The contract doesn’t affect service members’ moves currently under way; all household goods moves will continue under the current system, managed by TRANSCOM, until February, 2021.

“Team ARC remains committed to our proposal to provide exceptional customer service to TRANSCOM and the service members,” said ARC CEO Eric Ebeling, in a statement. “We look forward to getting started on the [Global Household Goods Contract.]”

TRANSCOM had previously pulled back the contract for the review, and notified the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of its intent to review the allegations on June 9.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2020/06/29/transcom-allegations-unsubstantiated-awards-72b-contract-to-privatize-household-goods-moves/

Also see: TRANSCOM offers explanation for reversal on corrective action, but it’s difficult to square with publicly-available evidence at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/dod-reporters-notebook-jared-serbu/2020/07/dods-7b-household-goods-contract-takes-an-even-stranger-turn/

June 29, 2020 By cs

Pentagon says it needs ‘more time’ fixing JEDI contract

The JEDI contract will not be awarded until at least August.

In updated legal filings, the Defense Department said it will not be in a position to award its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract to either Microsoft or Amazon Web Services until at least August 17.

The June 16 filing comes more than six months after AWS first challenged the Pentagon’s October award of the $10 billion contract to Microsoft in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which resulted in the Pentagon pulling the contract to take corrective action on identified flaws.

According to the filing, both companies submitted revised JEDI proposals in May, but they’ll have to revise and submit bids once more because the Pentagon intends to issue another amendment to the JEDI solicitation by June 22.

“DoD continues to evaluate the offerors’ revised proposals, and more time is required to complete this process,” attorneys for the Defense Department said in the filing. “DoD now anticipates that another solicitation amendment will be necessary, and additional limited proposal revisions will be permitted.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/06/pentagon-says-it-needs-more-time-fixing-jedi-contract/166292/

The decision follows a months-long legal challenge filed by Amazon Web Services.

The Defense Department says it wants to further discuss Microsoft’s and Amazon Web Services’ pricing.

A Pentagon contract meant to completely overhaul the military’s system for moving service members’ belongings around the world is once again under protest.

The JEDI contract will not be awarded until at least August.

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