USIS to fight GAO decision
By
Nick Wakeman
USIS says it will fight back against a decision by the Government Accountability Office that potentially will strip it of a $210 million contract.
U.S. Investigative Services plans to fight back against a decision by the Government Accountability Office that will potentially strip it of a $210 million contract.
USIS’s professional services division won a contract with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to provide field office support services.
GAO agreed with FCi Federal, the incumbent on the contract, that USIS shouldn’t be considered a “responsible contractor” because of a ongoing Justice Department investigation into fraud allegations.
USIS is complaining that the GAO decision “flies in the face of the outstanding ratings” USIS has received from the Homeland Security Department as it evaluated proposals for the contract.
It is interesting to note that the USIS unit that won the contract is legally known as U.S. Investigative Services Professional Services Division Inc. The part of the business under investigation by the Justice Department is legally known as USIS LLC. USIS LLC is the parent company of the professional services business.
The distinction is worth noting because GAO found that DHS failed to consider the pending Justice investigation against USIS LLC when picking USIS Professional Services Division Inc. as its contractor.
USIS also draws a distinction between the two. “PSD is not a party to the DOJ civil complaint,” USIS said in a statement.
The professional services business is part of USIS’s global security and solutions business, essentially the only part of USIS left standing after the Office of Personnel Management shut down its security clearance investigation business in August. The company had to lay off 2,100 employees after OPM decided not to exercise options on two contracts.
In asking GAO for a reconsideration, USIS can’t just say it disagrees with GAO’s decision; the company will have to raise new legal issues or present new facts. But this is tricky, too, because GAO will reject new facts or a new legal argument if it is something that USIS should have raised the first time.
It’ll be a tough bar to cross at GAO.
Another alternative is appealing the decision to Court of Federal Claims.
But the appeals process won’t give USIS a reprieve. DHS can move forward and award the contract to FCi.