Carahsoft joins ITES-3H protesters

Carahsoft Technology Corp. has joined Dell and two other companies in filing protests related to the Army’s ITES-3H contract for hardware and related services.

The $5 billion contract is in the source selection phase. Dell, iGov ad Technology Integration Group filed pre-award protests because the Army had excluded them from the final phase of the competition through a down select process.

It is unclear whether Carahsoft is protesting for the same reason. I couldn’t reach the company for comment, but I’m still chasing other sources.

The ITES-3H contract has already been delayed a few times, and ITES-2H has been extended twice. It now runs through July 2015. The Army has said it will make awards in the spring of 2015 for the third iteration of the contract.

It would be a shock if Carahsoft has been excluded, as it has been one of the more successful resellers in the government market in recent years. The company could be protesting for other reasons, though. There could be requirements in the RFP it objects to.

Dell’s exclusion is a blow to that company as it is an incumbent on ITES-2H and has won nearly $700 million worth of orders since 2007, according to the Deltek database. The company declined to comment.

About 50 companies have submitted bids for the contract, and the Army has narrowed that number down for the final phase of the competition. It expects to make eight awards: four to large businesses and four to small businesses.

The current contract has six primes: IBM, Dell, Iron Bow, CDW-G, Unicom Systems and World Wide Technology.