USTRANSCOM | The Contracting Education Academy

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/

Two firms contracting with the Pentagon’s massive Defense Transportation Coordination Initiative agreed to pay the government $13 million to settle allegations of overbilling exposed by two whistleblowers, the Justice Department and private attorneys announced Tuesday.

The California-based companies Menlo Worldwide Services and Estes Forwarding Worldwide agreed to resolve a lawsuit brought in 2013 under the False Claims Act, which allows private citizens bringing forward material information to collect a reward. They were said to have billed the Pentagon the cost of moving freight by air when it was actually shipped by ground, charges that the companies did not admit to.

The two firms were also alleged to have knowingly submitted inflated charges for air fuel instead of ground fuel, and charges for oversized freight when the freight did not qualify as oversized.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2016/05/whistleblowers-praised-exposing-alleged-pentagon-contractor-fraud/128033

See the Justice Department’s announcement about this settlement at: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/menlo-worldwide-services-inc-and-its-subcontractor-estes-pay-us-13-million-resolve

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

Whistleblowers praised for exposing alleged Pentagon contractor fraud

Two firms contracting with the Pentagon’s massive Defense Transportation Coordination Initiative agreed to pay the government $13 million to settle allegations of overbilling exposed by two whistleblowers, the Justice Department and private attorneys announced Tuesday.

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