Leidos joins ManTech in protests of $1.6B Justice contract

Leidos has joined ManTech International in protesting a Justice Department contract for IT support services.

Known as IT Support Services 5 or ITSS 5, the contract is planned to be a multiple award vehicle with a ceiling of $1.6 billion.

It went through an earlier set of protests when DOJ announced a set of small business winners in April. Those protests led to the awards being pulled and DOJ has been reworking the procurement.

Part of the process is a two-step evaluation and both Leidos and ManTech were eliminated and both have filed protests. Leidos with the Government Accountability Office but ManTech has turned to the Court of Federal Claims.

The Court of Federal Claims generally trumps GAO’s jurisdiction but Leidos apparently has told GAO that it is raising different issues than ManTech is raising.

Much of ManTech’s filings at the Court of Federal Claims have been sealed and what documents that are public have been heavily redacted.

ManTech is arguing that it was improperly excluded from the competitive range and it blaming a clerical error that can easily be corrected.

Leidos is challenging the agency’s evaluation of Phase 2 of the award process.

Both Leidos and ManTech are incumbent contractors on the current ITSS 4 contract.

ManTech filed its protest at the Court of Federal Claims on in August and there have been several rounds of filings but so far no trial date.

Leidos filed its protest at GAO on Oct. 9. A decision is expected Jan. 17.

While the protests are pending, DOJ cannot make awards.