GSA prevails in court to open $50B Alliant 2 contract

The General Services Administration wins a favorable court ruling that clears the path to open its $50 billion Alliant 2 Unrestricted contract for IT services.

The General Services Administration can now move forward with its $50 billion Alliant 2 Unrestricted contract vehicle for IT services across the government after the agency prevailed in a protest battle that went to U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

GSA anticipates the effective date to be July 1, according to a statement on the agency’s “Interact” website. The contract will have a five-year base period through June 30, 2023 followed by a five-year option period through June 30, 2028.

This move comes after U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled in favor of GSA against four companies that challenged the source selection and claimed their proposals were not scored properly.

Like its small business counterpart, Alliant 2 Unrestricted has been held up by several protests since it was first awarded to 61 large businesses in November of last year.

Five disappointed bidders including four incumbents from the Alliant 1 predecessor subsequently protested, but their challenges were dismissed by the Government Accountability Office in December after OBXTek took up the issue with Court of Federal Claims.

One of the four incumbents, Centech Group, also filed a lawsuit over the contract, as did Octo Consulting.

The court ruled against the protesters in the cases involving Centech, Dynetics and OBXtek. The court also ruled against Octo Consulting but that decision has not been released.

Alliant 1 incumbents Capgemini and Peraton (the former Harris Corp. IT services business) both withdrew their cases from the court before a ruling.

Alliant 2’s $15 billion small business also is embroiled in protests at GAO. Until the protests are resolved, GSA cannot more forward with the small business contract.