Engility fights on for Army satellite contract
By
Nick Wakeman
Engility continues to battle for an incumbent contract for satellite support after the Army's corrective action fails to go far enough to the company's liking.
Engility’s attempt to protect an incumbent contract for satellite support apparently isn’t going too well.
First challenger Sotera Defense Solutions -- now part of KeyW -- won the $69 million Army contract. Engility filed a protest in May shortly after that award.
A follow-up to that protest was filed with the Government Accountability Office in June.
Then GAO dismissed Engility's protest on July 5 because the Army decided to issue a corrective action and take a second look at the award.
That was good news for Engility but not for long. On July 12, the company filed a fresh protest arguing that the Army’s corrective action was too narrow.
I’m not sure what GAO will do with this. A lot will depend on what the Army’s action is. GAO could dismiss the protest as “untimely” if the Army hasn’t completed the corrective action yet.
But if the Army awards the contract to Sotera again, look for Engility to continue with its protest.
This particular contract is for support of satellite communications systems for the Army. Engility has held the contract since at least 2014. It is part of the Software and Systems Engineering Services Next Generation Program, or SSES NexGen.
The contract covers software technical support such as development, software and systems engineering, acceptance testing, information security management, quality assurance, configuration management and other services.
A decision from GAO on Engility's latest protest is expected by Oct. 22.