Salient CRGT prevails, captures large State Department contract
By
Nick Wakeman
It took nearly two years, but Salient CRGT can finally celebrate the win of a five-year contract to support the State Department's Foreign Service Institute.
UPDATE: Click here to read an update on this protest and contract award that clarifies several areas where this blog got it wrong.
It has been a long and winding road, but Salient CRGT can finally celebrate the win of a five-year contract to support the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute.
The contract has been mired in bid protests which pushed State to re-evaluate bids. Salient CRGT prevailed through the latest re-evaluation and announced the win this week.
A bid protest decision from the Government Accountability Office pegged the value of Salient CRGT’s bid at $231.6 million. Deltek puts the contract's ceiling at $732 million, which includes two other prime contractors.
Salient CRGT was first picked as the large business winner in late 2016. Yorktown Systems Group and International Center for Language Studies were picked as the small business winners.
The protest filed by incumbent Global Language Center only objected to Salient CRGT’s award.
With Global’s first protest, the State Department withdrew its award to Salient CRGT to re-evaluate the decision. It picked Salient CRGT again, and then Global protested again.
This time, the protest went through the entire process and GAO ruled in favor of Global and recommended that the agency reopen discussions and get revised proposals and then make a new award decision.
Salient CRGT prevailed this time as well and is now moving forward with the contract.
The company will support the Foreign Service Institute’s School of Language Studies with language instruction, curriculum development and testing services.
The school services more than 2,000 students annually and about 1,000 of those re involved in distance learning courses. Training is available in more than 70 languages.
“This program provides critical language and cultural instruction to assist the U.S. with its foreign policy goals and objectives,” said Tom Ferrando, president of Salient CRGT.