Harris, CSC to fight NGEN award to HP

Harris and Computer Sciences Corp. are fighting back against the loss of the $3.5 billion NGEN contract to HP, and have filed protests with the Government Accountability Office.

Harris Corp. and Computer Sciences Corp. have both filed protests of the Navy’s decision to award the $3.5 billion Next Generation Enterprise Network to Hewlett-Packard Co.

Harris and CSC led a team that competed against HP. Because the contract has two portions, Harris was bidding as the prime on one, with CSC as its teammate, and CSC was leading the second, with Harris as its teammate.

HP won the contract in late June on a lowest price, technically acceptable criteria. The contract will provide the IT infrastructure for 400,000 seats and 800,000 users globally. The company has been providing those services to the Navy under the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet contract since 2000.

Attorneys for both Harris and CSC declined to comment on the grounds of the protest.

A Government Accountability Office official said the protests were filed Monday morning, and decisions are due Oct. 23.

Work cannot start on NGEN until the protests are resolved.

At the time of the award to HP in late June, Navy officials expressed confidence that their decision could withstand a protest.