Lockheed, General Dynamics protest $2.6B DHS award
By
Nick Wakeman
Rivals want the General Services Administration and Homeland Security Department to rethink their decision to award Northrop Grumman the contract to build the infrastructure for the new DHS headquarters campus.
General Dynamics Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. have both filed protests over the General Services Administration’s decision to award a $2.6 billion contract to Northrop Grumman Corp.
The 10-year contract is for building the information technology infrastructure at the Homeland Security Department’s new headquarters campus in southeast Washington. Northrop Grumman will work with Clark Construction to install the infrastructure as Clark updates existing buildings and builds new ones on the former St. Elizabeths Hospital grounds.
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That collaboration is now likely on hold as the Government Accountability Office has until Jan. 26, 2011, to rule on the protests.
In a statement, Lockheed Martin said, “Lockheed Martin protests contract awards infrequently, and only when we believe that the evaluation process precluded the consideration of the best value solution for the customer.”
A Northrop Grumman spokesman referred calls to GSA.
Officials with GSA and General Dynamics were not available for comment.
The contract was awarded as a task order under GSA’s Alliant contract to build a campus to house headquarters operations of DHS and its component agencies. When the campus is completed, there will be 14,000 employees using 55 buildings. Clark is rehabilitating 51 historic buildings that were part of the St. Elizabeths, a former psychiatric institution. It will be the government's biggest office complex project since it constructed the Pentagon.
Northrop Grumman’s team includes large businesses such as IBM Corp. and Johnson Controls, which will provide smart-building technology. The project has environmental goals that include a minimum of receiving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certification.
A division of Northrop Grumman, Diebold and Cosentini Associates will work on physical security. CACI International will help with networking technology. TWD and Associates will supply secure audio-visual and conferencing technology.
The contract also requires a 40 percent small-business subcontracting goal.