COFC | The Contracting Education Academy

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/

September 22, 2020 By cs

Why the Pentagon’s JEDI saga is far from over

The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure procurement may be grounded until at least February, according to a new timeline agreed to by the government and Amazon Web Services.

On September 4, the Defense Department awarded Microsoft its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract for a second time, concluding — amid a legal protest filed by Amazon Web Services—that Microsoft’s bid again represented “the best value to the government.”

Yet JEDI remains under a court-ordered injunction first issued in April, shelving any work under the contract until AWS’ protest is resolved. On Sept. 15, the Defense Department submitted—under seal—the source selection documentation it used to re-award the JEDI contract to Microsoft. The move formally concludes nearly five months of time that the Pentagon requested from Federal Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith to correct the JEDI procurement, and represents a significant step to potentially lifting the injunction.

“If there is an injunction imposed by the court, nothing can move forward,” Stan Soloway, president and CEO of Celero Strategies and a former Defense Department acquisition official, told Nextgov. “But, even if a protest is still in play, theoretically the government could declare an urgent need and proceed.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2020/09/why-pentagons-jedi-saga-far-over/168516/

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 31, 2020 By cs

Government reliance on waiver argument to keep price adjustment windfall fails

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has articulated limits to the government’s ability to rely on the waiver doctrine to enforce Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provisions of questionable legality.

In so doing, the court has cast doubt on the government’s “heads we win, tails you lose” approach to measuring the cost impact of simultaneous changes to a contractor’s cost accounting practices.

In The Boeing Company v. United States, 2019-2148 (Aug. 10, 2020), the Federal Circuit rejected the government’s argument that Boeing’s claim — which was based on an apparent conflict between: 1) a statutory provision limiting the costs the government may recover for cost accounting practice changes to the aggregate increased cost to the government, and 2) a FAR provision under which the government’s recovery considers only the changes that increase costs to the government, and disregards changes that decrease costs to the government — was waived because Boeing did not raise the issue prior to contract award.

Background

Contractors covered by the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) sometimes change their cost accounting practices. They are allowed to do this so long as they disclose the changes and cooperate with the government’s efforts to determine whether, and the extent to which, the changes increase costs to the government. If changes in cost accounting practices do increase the amount charged to the government, the government is entitled to a price adjustment to neutralize the increased costs.

Keep reading this article at: https://governmentcontractsnavigator.com/2020/08/18/government-reliance-on-waiver-argument-to-keep-price-adjustment-windfall-fails/

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/