Is ITES-3S inching its way closer to an award?
By
Nick Wakeman
Several of the protests pending against the Army's $12 billion ITES-3S contract have either been dismissed or withdrawn, leaving just one protest standing in the way of awards.
The Army’s $12 billion ITES-3S vehicle might be getting closer to awards with several outstanding protests either being dismissed or withdrawn.
Right now, there is one pending protest on Government Accountability Office’s protest docket, and that’s one filed by Cassidy Consulting Group.
Less than a month ago, there were five pending protests. MicroTech and Future Research have withdrawn their protests and ActioNet and CKA LLC had theirs dismissed. Generally, dismissed protests mean that the agency is taking some sort of corrective action. So, it looks like the Army is making some changes to address the issues raised in their protests.
ITES-3S is a large multiple award contract that follows ITES-2S. The vehicle is used by the Army to bid a wide range of IT services.
Awarding the follow-on has been bogged down by a slew of pre-award protests, most of which stem from companies being eliminated from the competitive range. The Army is expected to make 24 awards with 14 of those going to small business. All of the protests to date have been by small businesses.
Cassidy is actually on its second round of protests. It first filed a protest on Oct. 6 and it was dismissed Nov. 21. It filed a new protest on Dec. 1.
As long as a protest is pending, the Army cannot make an award. A decision on the Cassidy protest is due March 13. Unless of course, there is a corrective action and it is dismissed.
Because there have been multiple rounds of protests and dismissals, it appears that the Army is trying to resolve issues as best as it can. My expectation is that the Cassidy protest will be resolved before March, and possibly before the end of 2016. It that happens, it would clear the way for an award.
Of course, the Army will still be open to protests after awards are made.
But I can’t help but think that going through all of these pre-award protests will lessen the likelihood of a successful protest again them. It would think that by this time, the Army has identified any of the problem areas and will have addressed them.
Time will tell, of course.