VA sees some progress toward T4NG on-ramp awards

The Veterans Affairs Department is slowly seeing some progress with the protests that have slowed down efforts to make awards for the on-ramp of the VA's T4NG contract vehicle.

Four companies filed protests after they were eliminated from the competition because they didn’t follow the rules for submitting proposals.

Pair number one of protesters have all withdrawn -- Tucker-Rose Associates and One Federal Solutions Corp. Those withdrawals came about 30 days after their filings, which likely means they halted their protests after seeing the VA’s responses to them.

Pair number two still has active protests -- MicroHealth and Ironclad Technology Services. At this stage, my assumption is that they will go to a Government Accountability Office decision.

Thpse companies are service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses and are pursuing the on-ramp to get on the VA’s Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology vehicle. The contract has a $22.3 billion ceiling and is used to acquire a broad range of IT services.

The decisions for MicroHealth is due June 8 and Ironclad’s is due May 20. The difference in dates shown on GAO's docket has to do when the protests were filed, but they could still be combined into a single decision depending on how similar their arguments are.

Awards can be made once the last two protests are cleared up, unless there are actions GAO wants the VA to take. That would add a further delay to the on-ramp awards.