CGI fights to get back in PTO competition

CGI Federal has found itself on the outside looking in on a $2 billion competition for a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office contract.

CGI Federal and another competitor have gone to the Government Accountability Office objecting to their elimination from USPTO's Business Oriented Software Solutions vehicle. It is the follow-on to USPTO’s Systems Development & Integration -- Next Generation contract held by several companies including CGI.

The other protester is Chevy Chase, Maryland-based small business Ascendant Services LLC. Both protests were filed on June 8 and decisions from the Government Accountability Office are expected Sept. 16.

BOSS and its predecessor both cover software development and integration services for commercial products, including software, databases and other solutions. Earlier this month, USPTO named the 24 companies eligible to compete for spots on BOSS.

Incumbents on the current contract outside of CGI Federal include General Dynamics IT (through its CSRA acquisition), Maximus (through its Acentia acquisition), Science Applications International Corp., Pragmatics, Phacil and Salient CRGT. All except for Phacil and obviously CGI Federal made USPTO's initial cut.

Those companies and CGI are continuing to support USPTO through a bridge contract that expires on Sept. 29, according to Deltek.

Since 2012, CGI has pulled in over $112 million in task orders and is the fourth-most successful company on the contract. Deltek ranks SAIC first with $179 million, followed by Salient CRGT with $162.7 million and then Maximus with $126.8 million.

Technical requirements under the current contract and BOSS include program management, system and software development, architecture and design, and user experience design.

An attempt to reach CGI’s attorney for comment was unsuccessful.