Protests pile up against VA T4NG on-ramp decisions
By
Nick Wakeman
The number of companies protesting the Veterans Affairs Department's on-ramp decisions for its $22.3 billion T4NG technology services vehicle is growing.
The number of companies protesting the on-ramp process for the Veterans Affairs Department's T4NG technology services contract continues to grow as a new batch of filings have hit the Government Accountability Office.
The VA is in the on-ramp process for the Transformation Twenty One Total Technology Program Next Generation and is looking to add more veteran-owned businesses to the $22.3 billion vehicle.
Companies are being eliminated from the competitive range as the VA works toward awards and that is the crux of the protests we have seen so far. Companies are arguing that they have been unfairly kicked out.
There have been earlier eliminations, including a set of protests back in May. There also is a case pending at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims filed by Summit Technologies.
A week ago we reported on a protest from MicroHealth and now 10 more companies have filed with GAO:
- Trilogy Federal
- AcesFed
- Veteran Technology Partners III
- Forward Federal Systems
- Clear Vantage Point Solutions
- NXTGen Solutions Joint Ventures
- Blue Water Thinking
- REV LLC
- Network Designs Inc.
All are objecting to being eliminated from the competitive range. They all filed between Nov. 12 and Nov. 16. We’ll likely see a decision from GAO in mid to late February. If it gets that far.
The VA could look at the protest claims and decide to take a second look at proposals, which would lead GAO to dismiss the protests.
A decision on Summit Technologies' case could trump any action at GAO, which also would force the watchdog agency to dismiss the protests.
Whatever is likely to happen ahead of a GAO decision will likely play out over the next 30 days.
Meanwhile, the VA continues to plow through proposals. These kinds of protests do not come with an order to halt any actions.
Companies on the contract vehicle since it was first awarded in 2016 continue to compete for task orders. The VA uses T4NG as its primary vehicle for IT products and services.