NORAD, Northcom contract under fire by losing bidders

Three disappointed bidders are protesting a contract to support the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command that was won by Agile Defense Inc.

The $82.3 million contract was awarded under GSA’s Alliant 2 unrestricted contract.

Protesting are Leidos, Ace Info Solutions and Leonardo DRS. They were competing with Agile Defense to provide network operations and maintenance services including logistical and general support for IT services, diagnostics and troubleshooting. The contract also covered lifecycle replacements and operation of a service desk.

Leidos, Ace Info and DRS all are arguing that GSA conducted a flawed evaluation of their proposals.

One aspect that is interesting about this protest is what it says about the competitive landscape.

Leidos and Leonardo DRS are very large companies with revenue in the multiple billions of dollars. Meanwhile, Ace Info and Agile Defense are well established companies but are just emerging out of small business status.

In checking their websites, they still tout their small business statuses on several contracts. Ace Info holds small business positions on CIO-SP3. Agile Defense holds positions on both the full-and-open portion of Alliant 2 and the small business portion. It also holds a small business position on GSA’s OASIS contract.

What I found so compelling about this protest is that these two smaller mid-tier companies held their own against two very large companies. Agile Defense in particular since they won the contract.

Ace Info and DRS filed their protests on May 21 and decisions are due Aug. 29. Leidos filed May 28 with a Sept. 5 deadline. The Government Accountability Office is likely to bundle all protests into a single ruling.