Deloitte wants back in on $400M FDA competition
By
Nick Wakeman
Deloitte has filed a protest after being eliminated from the competition for a $400 million Food and Drug Administration contract to support regulatory enforcement activities.
A blanket purchase agreement that could be worth $400 million to support the Food & Drug Administration’s inspection and regulatory enforcement efforts has again been hit with a protest from an unhappy bidder who was eliminated from the competition.
Deloitte filed the most recent objection saying they should still be in the running for the Imports and Systems for Inspection, Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement contract known as SIRCE.
Earlier this year, ECS Federal was eliminated. ECS then protested and FDA allowed them back into the competition.
The FDA developed this procurement for its Office of Regulatory Affairs, which is responsible for the regulation of food, drugs, medical devices and other health products. FDA wants to re-engineer and modernize the systems that support these efforts.
Leidos is the incumbent contractor dating back to 2013. The contract was known then as the Mission Accomplishment and Regulatory Compliance Services Integration Contract or MARCS. According to Deltek, the spend on MARCS has been about $200 million.
Systems these contracts support are used across the contract at some 20 district offices, 150 resident posts and border stations, 13 laboratories and other international offices. The work includes field work, import operations, compliance and enforcement actions, and laboratory operations.
There also are users outside of FDA, bringing the total number of users to 6,000 with as more than 600 using it concurrently.
Deloitte filed its protest on July 17. A Government Accountability Office decision is expected by Oct. 26.