Protest victory opens door for CACI on $446M Air Force contract

CACI International has survived a protest of a $446 million contract to provide operations, maintenance and sustainment to the Air Force Satellite Control Network.

The seven-year contract consolidates three existing contracts: the Satellite Control Network contract, the Network and Space Operations Maintenance contract and the Engineering, Development and Sustainment contract.

It was awarded to CACI in June, but Honeywell Technology Solutions—an incumbent on one of the consolidated contracts—protested, saying that there was an improper technical evaluation that resulted in the Air Force deeming Honeywell’s proposal technical unacceptable, according to the GAO decision.

Honeywell also said that the Air Force failed to consider the effect of CACI’s February acquisition of L-3 National Security Services—to which CACI attributed the win—on CACI’s ability to perform the work.

However, the Air Force said that it performed three rounds of discussion with Honeywell about the company’s approach, during which the Air Force told Honeywell that the company had not provided enough information about its approach.

Honeywell’s fatal flaw was not demonstrating a comprehensive understanding and executable approach for CAMMO Enterprise Data Information Management System cybersecurity, the GAO report said.

Honeywell, however, argued back and said that the discussions were misleading. Still, the Air Force did not budge, claiming it conducted fair discussions, and that Honeywell simply made tweaks to its proposal instead of adding what the Air Force wanted.

GAO also determined that the L-3 NSS acquisition and the Air Force’s related inquires happened before the companies submitted their final proposals.

Work is now set to begin for CACI. The company will be performing factory capability testing, operations support, remote site support, sustainment and modifications.

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