Companies protest contract award to BearingPoint for HSPD-12 services

Lockheed Martin Corp. and two other companies have protested the General Services Administration's decision to award BearingPoint Inc. of McLean, Va., a massive contract to provide turnkey solutions to help agencies meet the upcoming Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12.

Lockheed filed its protest directly with GSA, a company spokeswoman said, while Xtec Inc. of Miami and EDS Corp. filed separately with the Government Accountability Office.

GAO officials said the EDS and Xtec protests, filed Sept. 1 and Aug. 25, respectively, were based on "evaluation issues." The cases have both been assigned attorneys and decisions are not expected until early December, the officials said.

The Lockheed spokeswoman said that her company "had some concerns with the procurement process," but could not provide more details because discussions are pending.

GSA granted BearingPoint the five-year, $104 million contract Aug. 18 to help agencies begin enrolling and issuing workers Personal Identity Verification cards by Oct. 27.

Under the deal, BearingPoint will be responsible for enrolling employees, issuing smart cards that meet National Institute of Standards and Technology's Federal Information Processing Standard 201-1, and maintaining identification management accounts.

BearingPoint and GSA officials did not comment when contacted.

When a contract is protested, the contracting agency generally issues a "stop work" order preventing the contract from becoming active, GAO officials said.

A GSA spokesman would not comment on whether such an order has been issued in this case.

Rob Thormeyer is a staff writer for Washington Technology's sister publication, Government Computer News.