Elimination prompts protest of $1.8B Justice contract

A division of ASRC Federal has been eliminated from a possible $1.8 billion Justice Department contract and they aren’t too happy about it.

ASRC Federal Data Network Technologies LLC has gone to the Government Accountability Office with a pre-award protest involving DOJ’s Asset Forfeiture Administrative Support Services contract.

Asset forfeitures are when the government seizes property such as homes, cars and boats that were acquired with money generated by a criminal enterprise.

ASRC Federal was eliminated from the competitive range and is arguing that if the evaluation had been done properly they would still be in the competition.

A joint venture of AECOM and Science Applications International Corp. (through the acquisition of Engility) is the incumbent on the contract. Deltek data indicates the joint venture has received about $1.1 billion in task orders since 2011. The recompete contract has a ceiling of $1.8 billion.

The Forfeiture Support Associates LLC venture has held the contract since 2004.

SAIC generates approximately $140 million in annual revenue to make up 2 percent of total sales, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Bach. Engility's own incumbency is traced back to when the company was part of L3 Technologies, then L-3 Communications at the time of the 2011 award.

DOJ uses the contract for administrative, clerical and professional support services. About 1,400 contractor personnel support the department at some 490 offices around the country.

The work includes people to help process forfeitures; documentation services to track form, correspondence and other records; and data analysis.

Deltek anticipates that DOJ will make an award in December.

The bid protest could throw a kink in that schedule. ASRC Federal filed its protest on Sept. 16 and GAO is expected to make a decision by Dec. 26. DOJ can continue to evaluate proposals but it can’t pick a winner while the protest is pending.