Protests hold up awards for DISA IT contract
By
Nick Wakeman
Five HUBzone businesses have filed protests after being eliminated from the competition for a DISA contract for IT support across the agency's global network.
CORRECTION: An early version of this post had an incorrect dollar value for this contract. This version has been updated to correct that mistake.
Five HUBzone businesses have filed protests after being eliminated from the competition for a DISA contract for IT support across its global newtwork.
DISA eliminated those companies as part of the evaluation process for a blanket purchase agreement known as the DISA Information Technology Enterprise Support Services contract or "DESS II."
Filing protests are:
- Alamo City Engineering Services
- Fairfield Technologies
- LightGrid LLC
- Lynker Technologies
- Tkacz Engineering
DESS covers a range of services to support the operation, maintenance and modernization of DISA’s global IT enterprise. According to Deltek, the current contract has had about $400 million in awarded task orders.
The BPA is being competed under the GSA Schedule 70 and is set aside for companies located in historically underutilized business zones, also known as HUBzones. Government agencies have a goal of 3 percent of contracts going to businesses located in HUBzones but agencies have struggled to meet that goal.
The protest by these five companies will likely slow DISA’s move toward an award, which Deltek estimates will be in September. DISA can continue to evaluate proposals but it cannot make an award while protests are pending.
The Government Accountability Office has set a Nov. 26 deadline for making a decision on the protests.