Judge sides with Alliant plaintiffs

A U.S. Federal Claims Court judge ruled March 3 in favor of companies protesting the General Services Administration's awards for its Alliant governmentwide acquisition contract, according to a person familiar with the case.

The ruling is sealed and limits what any party in the case may say until the parties agree on a redacted version of the ruling that leaves out proprietary information.

The court may release more information on the ruling later today.

After GSA awarded Alliant in July to 29 companies, eight companies filed bid protests with the Government Accountability Office against GSA's awards. Serco, which submitted a proposal but did not receive an award, took its bid to the claims court. GAO then dismissed the eight protests and combined them under one court case with Serco.

The companies' protests center on how GSA determined the contract's awards. Many of the protesters say the bid evaluations didn't match the criteria in the Alliant request for proposals, and they also say GSA failed to treat each company equally, according to court documents.

Alliant is a five-year information technology contract with a five-year option and a ceiling of $50 billion. Agencies can use the contract to buy IT applications, infrastructure and services. It also provides streamlined access to a range of management and technical support services.

Matthew Weigelt writes for Federal Computer Week, an 1105 Government Information Group publication.