Big names start protesting Eagle II

A quick follow-up on my earlier blog about the troubles with the Homeland Security Department’s Eagle II contract: 10 more companies filed protests on Dec. 4.

Among these protesters are some of the biggest names in the business. This brings the total number of protests filed to 38, but 16 have been resolved in some way. They have either been dismissed because DHS is taking a corrective action, or have been withdrawn by the company, with a couple being denied by the Government Accountability Office.

That leaves 22 still active. Unisys was the first of the big names to file a protest, but they only beat some of the others by a day. With the filings on Dec. 5, there have been 19 protests filed since Nov. 26.

Large business protesters so far are:

• Exelis Inc.
• Harris IT Services Corp.
• SRA International
• CGI Federal
• SAIC
• Raytheon
• Telecommunication Systems Inc.
• Unisys

They all filed this week, along with some smaller but still well-recognized businesses such as Presidio Networked Solutions, InfoZen Inc. and Electronic Consulting Services Inc.

Another large business, ICF International, filed its protest in September and is scheduled to get an answer from GAO on Dec. 12.

The wide range in filings and due dates for decisions are tied to when the awards were made in the various categories under Eagle II, and when the losing bidders received a debrief from DHS.

I’m still waiting to see what the likes of Accenture, AT&T, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman do.

It will also be interesting to see what actions DHS takes. Once formally notified by GAO of the protest, an agency has 30 days to file its own report. If DHS looks at the protests and decides to pull back the awards on its own for a re-evaluation, then that usually occurs before the 30-day deadline.

Given that it is Dec. 5, we’ll probably know before the end of the year if DHS is going to take what is called a corrective action.

The pressure will likely mount on DHS to do something now, especially if the large businesses that haven’t filed decide protest.

The pattern of protests is beginning to look very reminiscent of the Air Force’s NetCents II Products contract, but hopefully DHS will come to a resolution more quickly.

So, the clock is ticking, and we’ll be watching.