Companies dispute HSPD-12 award

Two companies have protested the General Services Administration's award to EDS to run the agency's Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 Managed Services Office.

XTec and the Computer Literacy Team filed protests May 1 with the Government Accountability Office, according to the watchdog agency's bid protest docket Web site.

GSA last week awarded EDS a 17-month contract with three one-year options to implement 225 fixed and mobile HSPD-12 enrollment stations nationwide for at least 420,000 federal employees and contractors at 42 agencies.

An industry source said at least one of the protests centered on GSA's decision to award the $66 million contract to EDS even though its team didn't include a vendor approved to provide e-personalization and graphical personalization services.

Under graphical personalization services, the card vendor must have a GSA-approved partner to print the HSPD-12 cards using and approved printing algorithm and approved middleware, printers and other functions. Under e-personalization services, the vendor must have a GSA-approved partner that puts items such as the public-key infrastructure certificate on the card's chip.

There are seven products approved for e-personalization, but only one approved service vendor, Gemalto. Gemalto is on the Computer Literacy Team, which also includes CACI, ADT, Clear Government Solutions, Secure Network Systems and Identix.

Gemalto also is the only graphical personalization service provider on GSA's approved-product list.

EDS' team included e-personalization product providers ActivIdentity and Obethur Card Systems, but according to GSA neither have been approved to provide the service.

XTec is an approved e-personalization product provider.

EDS spokesman Brad Bass said company policy prohibits it from commenting on protests.

"EDS does plan to intervene in support of GSA's award, but we cannot at this time publicly comment on the issues raised in these protests," Bass said.

This is the second time unsuccessful bidders protested GSA's MSO award. In August 2006, when the agency awarded BearingPoint a $104 million contract, EDS, XTec and Lockheed Martin submitted objections.

GSA did not return an e-mail message asking for comment, and GAO has not yet assigned an attorney to the case.

Jason Miller writes for Government Computer News and Federal Computer Week, 1105 Government Information Group publications.