VA can now make $22.3B T4NG on-ramp awards
By
Nick Wakeman
With all outstanding protests denied, the Veterans Affairs Department can now make on-ramp awards for its $22.3 billion T4NG technology services contract.
The Government Accountability Office has put the hammer down on several companies who were protesting their elimination from the on-ramp to get on the Veterans Affairs Department's $22.3 billion T4NG technology services contract vehicle.
GAO denied protests filed by eight companies, who argued they were unfairly eliminated from the competition for seats on the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation contract.
The VA has been using a phased approach to making awards under the on-ramp process, so it has been eliminating companies as it moves toward final awards.
As expected, several of the knocked out companies filed protests in November arguing their elimination was unfair.
GAO decision's have yet to be released but the results are part of the agency's public docket. There generally is a lag between the ruling itself and when the written decision is released as attorneys haggle over a public version.
But these denials, coupled with a U.S. Court of Federal Claims decision involving another protest, mean the VA is now free to move forward and make awards. All of those protests were resolved in GAO's favor. including the court case brought by Summit Technologies.
The companies whose protests have been denied by GAO are:
- MicroHealth
- Network Designs
- NXTGen Solutions Joint Venture
- Rev LLC
- Blue Water Thinking
- AcesFed
- Trilogoy Federal
- Veteran technology Partners III
Summit Technologies went to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The judge’s decision to reject Summit's claims of unfair elimination has been released, but Summit’s original complaint is still sealed.
The company claimed the VA applied criteria in its evaluation that was not part of the solicitation. The judge rejected that argument as well as others claiming unequal treatment. Very little wiggle room in that decision.
Once available, we’ll look at the judge's ruling and GAO decisions as well.
But for now, we’ll watch for how soon VA makes its on-ramp awards. It could be soon because VA was allowed to continue working on the awards.