Billion-dollar Army contract faces protests

A possible multi billion-dollar Army contract is facing at least two protests during the source selection that could delay the award.

Honeywell Technology Solutions and a joint venture of Fluor and ManTech International have filed pre-award protests involving the Army’s logistics work in the Persian Gulf region.

There were several winners of the predecessor contract, and it pulled in more than $1 billion in task orders between 2001 and 2015, according to Deltek.

Honeywell is one of the incumbents, but didn't score significant work, according to Deltek. Fluor ManTech Logistics Solutions LLC is not an incumbent.

Protests filed at this stage of procurement generally mean there is something in the solicitation that the companies didn’t like, or they have been eliminated from the competition either in a down-select process, or their proposals were found non-compliant. Given that proposals were due Nov. 30 and the companies filed their protests Dec. 23 (Honeywell) and Jan. 5 (Fluor ManTech), my guess is that they have been eliminated from the competition.

Regardless, the results are the same; the Army will not be able to make an award until the protests are resolved. They can, however, continue to evaluate proposals and hold discussions with bidders.

Much of the work under this contract, being awarded under the Army’s EAGLE vehicle, will be based out of Kuwait and Qatar and will cover the entire Southwest Asia region, except for Afghanistan, according to the performance work statement.

The contract will support the 401^st Army Field Support Brigade at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, and Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar.

The two camps operate separately so the Army will have separate contracting officer representative for each camp, according to the performance work statement.

The support under the contract will focus on form main areas: material maintenance, supply services, transportation and logistics analysis and management.

Under the current contract, Vectrus is by far the top contract with nearly 84 percent of the work worth $1.1 billion. BAE Systems is a distant second with $102 million in task orders. Harris has won $72.8 million; General Dynamics has $36.8 million, and Honeywell has $6.1 million.

It’ll be interesting to see if the new contract pulls in as many dollars, given the drawn down in activity in the part of the world. But when you consider what a hot spot that region is, this contract should continue to draw traffic and interest.

A decision from GAO is expected in April.