GSA stops, restarts work on contested HSPD-12 contract

The General Services Administration has restarted work on a contested contract that aims to help agencies begin issuing Personal Identity Verification cards under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12.

An agency spokesman officially confirmed that GSA had stopped working on the five-year, $104 million contract with BearingPoint Inc. of McLean, Va., immediately after Lockheed Martin Corp. protested the Aug. 18 award.

But after GSA officials began reviewing Lockheed's complaint, the agency restarted work on the BearingPoint deal Sept. 7, the spokesman said.

"We are looking at the merits of the case," the spokesman said.

Still, the contract remains under investigation and GSA has until the end of the month to conclude its probe, the spokesman said. "Our full intent is to [conclude the investigation] sooner" than that, he said.

GSA's investigation will not impact a separate analysis of the award by the Government Accountability Office, which received protests of the award from Xtec Inc. of Miami and EDS Corp. GAO is scheduled to complete its investigations in mid-December.

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