VA's T4NG on-ramp faces more protest hurdles

The on-ramp for the Veterans Affairs Department's $22.3 billion T4NG contract vehicle has run into a bit more trouble.

After working through a set of protests at the Government Accountability Office earlier this year, the VA now faces a challenge at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims even after a couple withdrawals and a couple other dismissals.

Summit Technologies filed a still-sealed complaint to the court on July 31.

There also is a pending protest at GAO filed by Barbaricum LLC. That will likely be dismissed because the court’s authority in bid protests is greater than GAO's.

According to court filings, another company plans to file another protest with the Court of Federal Claims by Friday. That company has not been identified, but either way the cases likely will be combined if the issues are similar enough.

No on-ramp awards have been made yet for the Transformation Twenty One Total Technology Program Next Generation vehicle, which is the VA's main avenue for buying IT-related services.

All protests to date have come from companies that the VA eliminated from the competition.

Attempts to reach Summit were not successful. They are either protesting either over their removal or flaws in the solicitation.

The court is still in the process of setting up hearings and a schedule to move through the case. The VA has not responded with a filing of its own.

Summit asked the court to keep its complaint sealed because it contains proprietary information, but eventually a public version will be released.