award protest | The Contracting Education Academy

February 17, 2021 By cs

Army awards $5 million ‘bridge’ contract for cyber training

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/

February 16, 2021 By cs

Bid protests: The what, who, when, and where

When thinking about bid protests, it is helpful to first look at the basics.

What is a bid protest,
Who can file a bid protest,
When is a bid protest filed, and
Where is a bid protest filed?

For anyone going through a bid protest, hiring a knowledgeable attorney who is experienced in this area can be beneficial in providing guidance through the process. But as a primer, here is an outline of the what, who, when and where of bid protests involving government contracts.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/bid-protests-the-what-who-when-and-where-7486301/

January 7, 2021 By cs

Failure to have active SAM registration at time of bid was not fatal

Government contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) and complete required representations and certifications annually.

FAR 52.204-7 requires bidders, with some limited exceptions, to be registered in SAM at the time of bid and to continue to be registered until time of award, during performance, and through final payment.

Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) addressed the issue of whether a bidder’s failure to have an active registration in SAM at time of bid renders the bid nonresponsive and ineligible for award in Master Pavement Line Corp., B-419111 (Dec. 16, 2020).

GAO concluded that SAM registration is a matter of responsibility, not bid responsiveness.

In that case, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued an Invitation for Bids (IFB) for the repair of signs and guiderails, as well as other safety repairs. The IFB included a checklist for bid submission that advised that bidders had to be registered in SAM prior to contract award. Master Pavement submitted a timely bid and was the apparent low bidder.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=cf98267d-d76e-4b8d-9df5-cc7f0ffae5bc

January 4, 2021 By cs

Judge sides with Navy in latest challenge to $7.7 billion NGEN contract

A federal court has ruled against Perspecta in a lawsuit that sought to overturn the Navy’s latest iteration of its Next Generation Enterprise Network contract, likely clearing the way for work to begin on one of the largest information technology contracts in government history.

The precise reasons behind Judge Loren Smith’s final judgement in the case aren’t yet known, because he filed his opinion under seal — a common practice at the Court of Federal Claims to protect sensitive acquisition information. A public version of the document is expected by early January.

The lawsuit was over the Navy’s award of the larger of two contracts that make up its latest recompetition of NGEN, known as Service Management, Integration and Transport. The Navy awarded SMIT, valued at up to $7.7 billion over eight years, to Leidos in February.

“The Department of the Navy is pleased to be able to move forward with this critical program in support of our Navy and Marine Corps warfighters,” Ruth Youngs-Lew, the Program Executive Officer for Digital and Enterprise Information Systems said in a statement. “This contract will enable the DON to accelerate digital modernization of our enterprise networks, which are the foundation for the Department of Navy business.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/navy/2020/12/judge-sides-with-navy-in-latest-challenge-to-7-7-billion-ngen-contract/

November 12, 2020 By cs

DoD’s $7.2 billion moving contract included ‘pervasive’ violations of procurement rules

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) overturned the Defense Department’s $7.2 billion contract to move service members’ household goods around the world because of what the independent bid arbiter called “pervasive” errors in the contracting process that prejudiced two losing bidders, according to two newly-released legal decisions.

GAO found U.S. Transportation Command, the agency responsible for the new Global Household Goods contract (GHC), ran afoul of federal contracting rules in no less than five key areas, beginning with serious questions about whether TRANSCOM’s chosen bidder, American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC), was eligible to win the contract in the first place.

The redacted decisions shed new light on the office’s rationale for telling TRANSCOM it should reevaluate bids in the GHC procurement. GAO first announced its verdict in two protests that challenged the GHC award on Oct. 21.

Both of the losing bidders who protested the contract award — HomeSafe Alliance and Connected Global Solutions — alleged that ARC wasn’t eligible for the contract because its parent company had a recent history of criminal and civil misconduct that it failed to disclose.

GAO didn’t explicitly agree with that position, but did find that TRANSCOM hadn’t done nearly enough of an investigation to credibly come to the conclusion that ARC was a responsible contractor.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-news/2020/11/dods-7-2b-moving-contract-included-pervasive-violations-of-procurement-rules/

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.

When thinking about bid protests, it is helpful to first look at the basics.

Government contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) and complete required representations and certifications annually.

A federal court has ruled against Perspecta in a lawsuit that sought to overturn the Navy’s latest iteration of its Next Generation Enterprise Network contract, likely clearing the way for work to begin on one of the largest information technology contracts in government history.

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