Former USIS unit continues protest fight
By
Nick Wakeman
The business formerly known as U.S. Investigative Services has scored a $200 million victory for its owner, PAE, but there is still a fight ahead.
The business formerly known as U.S. Investigative Services has scored a $200 million victory for its new owners, PAE, but there is still a fight ahead.
When the Office of Personnel Management cancelled its contracts with USIS following a data breach and other problems, the company was left with just its Global Security and Solutions division. As USIS’ owner, Altegrity, plummeted toward bankruptcy, the business was sold to PAE for an undisclosed amount.
As all this was happening, the Global Security and Solutions business bid on and won a $210 million contract with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, but the incumbent, FCi Federal, filed a bid protest, which the Government Accountability Office sustained.
FCi argued successfully that the contracting officer didn’t properly consider the impact of a Justice Department lawsuit and other USIS problems on its standing as a “responsible” contractor.
USIS had argued that the Global Security and Solutions division was a separate legal entity and was not part of the Justice lawsuit and investigation.
GAO, however, sent the contract award back, saying the contracting officer didn’t do enough to determine what the impact of the lawsuit would be.
But just because GAO agreed with FCi, it didn’t guarantee them a contract award. That’s an important lesson from this case.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service re-evaluated proposals and again made an award to the former USIS business, now known as PAE PSI.
And again, FCi has filed a protest with GAO.
The battle continues, but this time I’m not sure the same argument will work for FCi because the business unit is not part of USIS. It will be hard to argue that PAE isn’t a “responsible” contractor.
The company filed its protest this week. A decision is due from GAO by Aug. 5.
In the meantime, FCi as the incumbent continues to support the field offices of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. Services include correspondence management, file operations and maintenance, data reviews and other support functions.