$7.2B intell contract clears protest hurdle

A $7.2 billion support contract for Army intelligence that has been hung up in bid protests has cleared the last outstanding objection to its award.

The Global Intelligence Support Services contract is an Army vehicle to buy a variety of service to support intelligence, security and information operations.

This week, the Government Accountability Office denied a protest by Mission Essential Personnel, which lost its bid for a spot on the multiple award contract. Their protest was the fourth denial by GAO of a protest involving the contract. There also have been other protests that were dismissed when the Army took a corrective action.

The Mission Essential Personnel protest was the last active one involving the contract.

The Global Intelligence Support Services contract was awarded in September to 21 companies – 11 large and 10 small businesses. The large business portion of the contract has a $7.2 billion ceiling, while the small business portion has a $3.2 billion ceiling.

The original large business winners were:

• BAE Systems
• Booz Allen Hamilton
• CACI International
• DynCorp International
• Invertix Corp.
• Lockheed Martin
• ManTech
• Northrop Grumman
• Six3 Intelligence Solutions (now part of CACI)
• Sotera Defense Solutions
• SRA International

The original small business winners:

• Absolute Business Corp.
• Archimedes Global
• Calhoun International
• Circinus LLC
• Charles F. Day & Associates
• E&M Technologies
• Integral Consulting Services
• K-3 Enterprises
• Pluribus International Corp.
• The Buffalo Group

Mission Essential Personnel filed its first protest in September along with Leidos and a group of small businesses including InCadence Strategic Solutions, Intrepid Solutions and Services, Electronic On-Ramp, GIS Federal, and IOMAXIS.

Mission Essential Personnel, Leidos, GIS and IOMAXIS had their protests dismissed in late October and November when the Army said it would take a corrective action to re-evaluate bids.

An executive with IOMAXIS told me that the company was added to the contract following this corrective action.

Only Mission Essential Personnel came back and filed a new protest in December, which GAO denied this week. The protests by InCadence, Intrepid and Electronic On-Ramp were all denied in December in separate decisions. Each company raised distinct objections so they couldn’t be handled in a single decision.

Because Leidos and GIS didn’t refile protests after the corrective action, I’m trying to confirm with the companies and the Army Intelligence and Security Command whether they have been added to the contract. I suspect they have given that IOMAXIS was added to the contract.

Leidos declined to comment, referring me to the Army. So far, the Army and GIS have not responded to my inquiries.

But with nothing else pending before GAO, this large vehicle is most likely set to begin. The winning companies will compete for task orders.

The contract has four main areas: intelligence and security operations, information operations, mission support for facilities and sustainment services such as program management. It consolidates several existing contracts into a single vehicle.