Incumbency no help for Booz Allen in fight for DTRA contract
By
Nick Wakeman
Booz Allen Hamilton leaned on its incumbency in a bid to keep a $263 million DTRA contract but Noblis captured the recompete to support work on combating weapons of mass destruction.
The competition between Booz Allen Hamilton and Noblis for a $263 million Defense Threat Reduction Agency contract was neck and neck with both companies getting strong technical and past performance scores.
Their prices also were only $3 million apart, with Booz Allen bidding $266.5 million compared to Noblis’ $263.3 million bid.
You would think that as the incumbent that Booz Allen would have a bit of an edge to continue providing DTRA with support for planning, programming, budgeting and execution related to DTRA’s cooperative threat reduction program. The company also provided experts in areas such as weapons of mass destruction, international agreements, acquisitions, training and administrative support.
So it isn’t surprising that Booz Allen filed a protest when DTRA awarded the contract to Noblis.
One of the major points that Booz Allen argued is that it should have been given higher scores for past performance because of the expertise and experience it has gained as the incumbent. Both companies were give scores of Substantial Confidence.
But DTRA’s selection decision authority believed that while Booz Allen’s experience was a strength and would have an immediate impact, it would diminish over time.
GAO ruled that there was no basis for Booz Allen to argue that the selection decision authority was required to give them a high score.
Booz Allen also argued that DTRA didn’t follow the criteria described in the solicitation and didn’t enter into discussions with the bidders.
GAO rejected this as well.
One area where Noblis outscored Booz Allen was its staff approach. Noblis got the nod over Booz Allen because of the details it provided about how it would hire and retain people. Booz Allen’s proposal apparently lacked the details DTRA was looking for. Booz Allen also didn’t provide details on how over time it would shift more work to subcontractors.
Noblis scored an Outstanding in this area, while Booz Allen received a Good score.
Booz Allen leaned hard on its experience with the customer but in the end that didn’t persuade DTRA nor did it persuade GAO.