NetCents déjà vu again?
By
Nick Wakeman
The Air Force's beleagured NetCents 2 contract faces another round of bid protests.
UPDATE: This story was updated to add that a second company has filed a protest against the Air Force.
Is the Air Force headed for another NetCents 2 debacle? Time will tell.
So far only two losing bidders has been confirmed as a protester involving the Air Force’s $960 million NetCents Application Services Small Business Companion contract.
The contract was awarded June 21 to 12 small businesses to provide IT services. Missing from the list of winners was Ace Info Solutions Inc. of Reston, Va., and Insignia Spectrum LLC, a joint venture formed by Insignia Technology and Spectrum. Ace Info field its protest on July 2. A decision is expected by Oct. 10. Insignia-Spectrum filed on July 9 and a decision is expected by Oct. 17.
So far other protesters have not emerged.
The Air Force is still trying to recover from the protests of its $6.9 billion NetCents product contract that was pulled back for re-evaluation after 11 companies filed protests. New winners are expected to be named soon.
The NetCents 2 program is a $24 billion follow-on to the Air Force’s successful $10 billion NetCents 1 program. But delays and the bid protests have forced the Air Force to extend NetCents 1 several times.
Once fully awarded, the NetCents 2 contracts will be the Air Force's primary source of netcentric and IT products, services and solutions.