Symplicity wins another round in FedBizOpps redesign battle

The General Services Administration has decided that Symplicity Corp. of Arlington, Va., will revamp FedBizOpps.gov after all.

GSA awarded Symplicity, a Section 8(a) business, a $17.4 million contract that includes three base years and five one-year options. In June, GSA awarded Symplicity the contract, but pulled it back after protests by losing bidders. GSA reopened the competition in July by issuing an amendment diminishing the requirement for integrated IT security between the system and other agency applications.

After re-evaluating the offers, GSA officials gave Symplicity the award again.

"We are extremely excited about this opportunity," a Symplicity spokesman said. "We are excited to continue to help the government continue to revolutionize the procurement process."

Symplicity also has developed the Electronic Subcontracting Reporting System under the Integrated Acquisition Environment E-Government project, and the 8(a) online application for the Small Business Administration.

Like the previous contract for FedBizOpps.gov, this one raises the possibility of protests being filed. The losing bidders, Devis Corp. of Arlington, Va., and Information Sciences Corp. of Silver Spring, Md., are awaiting a debriefing from GSA officials early next week.

Due to possibility of protest, Symplicity could not release information about potential changes to FedBizOpps. The contract was performance-based, so contractors had to provide their own statement of work and therefore the proposed changes to FedBizOpps are considered procurement-sensitive.