Booz Allen faces challenge over $141M F-35 contract

Booz Allen Hamilton has won a $141.1 million contract to support the F-35 Joint Program Office, but it is facing a challenge from at least one competitor.

Wyle filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office following Booz Allen’s victory. Wyle is one of three companies that had incumbent contracts for the work.

The contract was awarded under the Navy’s Seaport-e program and supports the Navy, Air Force, Marines and several foreign nations that are buying the F-35 fighter made by Lockheed Martin.

The goal of the contract is provide the F-35 Joint Program Office with engineering knowledge based services, which includes systems engineering and technical support, support to the production and functional teams at the program office, and foreign military sales, according to procurement documents posted by Deltek.

The work previously had been done under three separate contracts held by Engility, Wyle and Alion Science and Technology.

Booz Allen won the award on April 4, so we are likely still within the window for the others to file protests to protect their position.

On the face of it, I was first a little surprised that Booz Allen was going up against Wyle. I typically don’t think of them as competitors, but then I remembered that Booz Allen added significant defense and aviation related systems engineering capabilities when it acquired the defense business of ARINC in 2012. It paid about $154 million for the business. With that addition, it is less surprising that Booz Allen would be pursuing this kind of work.

Wyle filed its protest April 13. A decision from GAO is expected by July 22.