Northrop loses third protest against Raytheon's $1B DHS cyber contract win

Northrop Grumman loses a third protest against the award of the $1 billion DHS "Domino" cybersecurity contract to Raytheon. Here's why Northrop fought so hard.

An almost two-year saga over the Homeland Security Department’s $1 billion Domino cybersecurity services contract may soon be over after Northrop Grumman lost its third round of protests against that award to Raytheon.

The Government Accountability Office turned down Northrop’s latest challenge based in part on a contention that Raytheon held an unfair advantage after it hired former DHS employees to its team, according to the ruling dated Oct. 4 and posted online Thursday.

A Raytheon spokesperson told Washington Technology that DHS lifted its stop-work order on Domino Oct. 6.

GAO also ruled against Northrop’s claims that DHS changed its requirements for Domino -- short for Development, Operations and Maintenance -- after the agency first released the request for proposals in 2014 and left the RFP unchanged.

Northrop also lost out on its contention that past performance evaluations were unreasonable and discussions with awardee Raytheon were unequal, the ruling says.

But even with this latest setback, Northrop can either ask GAO to reconsider its decision or file a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Claims Court if it decides Domino is worth the fight. Northrop officials did not indicate what they might do next.

Given Domino’s size and scope, it is easy to see why Northrop has tried repeatedly to wrestle this contract away. Domino is worth up to $1.15 billion over five years, according to the most recent GAO ruling. The financial windfall to the winner is one obvious angle.

There is also what Domino does. It will be DHS’ primary vehicle to secure networks, websites and email addresses on the “.gov” domain from hackers and other intrusions. The contract will support at least 100 civilian agencies and falls under DHS’ larger EINSTEIN program -- National Cybersecurity Protection System -- to build a firewall around federal networks.

Which leads up to Domino’s constant award-protest-redo cycle, which I must admit I thought were over when I wrote about a Raytheon announcement of its Domino award on June 19. That was the third time DHS awarded Domino to Raytheon after two rounds of protests by Northrop.

DHS first awarded the contract to Raytheon on Sept. 21, 2015, one year after proposals were submitted. DHS received five offersfor Domino, according to the GAO ruling.

Northrop protested the first award attempt Oct. 5, 2015, and 13 days later DHS informed GAO it would take corrective action in response to that challenge. GAO then dismissed Northrop’s protest.

DHS awarded the contract to Raytheon a second time on June 2, 2016. Northrop protested again on June 15. And on Aug. 26, 2016, DHS said it again would take corrective action on the award.

Fast forward to this year and the third award to Raytheon took place on June 9. The latest GAO ruling does not show a specific date of that protest but does say the debriefing occurred on June 22. Losing bidders have 10 business days after an award to protest.

In its June 19 award announcement, Raytheon said it would incorporate automation and analytics functions into the EINSTEIN setup. Raytheon -- No. 5 on our 2017 Washington Technology Top 100 rankings -- has made automation and analytics centerpieces in its acquisitions of almost a dozen cyber companies since the mid-2000s.

Raytheon also built an entire cybersecurity system for an entire country and has since seen interest from other countries to do the same.

A table embedded within the latest GAO ruling documents indicate Raytheon's evaluated cost of $755.1 million for Domino exceeded Northrop's by $23.9 million. But an unnamed third bidder called "Offeror 3" in the ruling saw its evaluated cost come out to $694.1 million.

And that bidder was rated "outstanding" in the operations and maintenance category -- one of eight for Domino -- over Northrop's "acceptable" rating. Northrop and the unnamed bidder were scored equally in the seven categories other than O&M.

Thus DHS determined Offeror 3's bid as a higher-rated and lower cost proposal compared to Northrop.

Raytheon was scored higher than Northrop in the O&M and staffing categories. Both Northrop and Raytheon were scored equally in other six categories. 

In its protest, Northrop also argued that the unnamed bidder had an unfair competitive advantage from its proposed use of a subcontractor for whom one of the former government employees worked. GAO said it saw no need to address those allegations as it had already determined the allegations against Raytheon had no merit.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.