DISA asks court to pause litigation over $1B contract
Gettyimages.com/ boonchai wedmakawand
By
Nick Wakeman
In asking for a "remand," the Defense Information Systems Agency says it wants to re-evaluate proposals and make a new award decision over the contract originally won by American Systems Corp.
There have been several twists since American Systems Corp. won a $1 billion contract for test and evaluation services to the Defense Information Systems Agency in December.
Aside from its size -- the win is noteworthy because American Systems unseated the incumbent Jacobs to take the Test, Evaluation and Certification 2 contract.
Two other bidders in LinQuest and Business Integra filed protests at the Government Accountability Office in late December and January. DISA then decided to rethink the award.
Meanwhile, Jacobs sat on the sidelines. DISA chose American Systems again after its rethink.
This time around, Jacobs jumped into the fray and filed a lawsuit at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on Feb. 6. Business Integra joined the challenge on Feb. 17.
It appears the companies are challenging the evaluation, alleging unfair discussions by DISA and claiming the agency conducted a flawed best-value determination.
DISA is asking the court to give the agency a “remand” or 180 days so it can reconsider the award decision. That would be similar to a corrective action at GAO.
But the twist here is how in that filing, DISA claims American Systems has consented to the remand and Jacobs does not oppose the move. But Business Integra “has stated that it does not consent" to the remand, according to the filing.
I’ve reached out to American Systems for comment on why it, as the winner, would agree to a corrective action.
As part of the remand, DISA will ask bidders to re-validate their proposals because they were submitted on Oct. 24, 2022. Those proposals have either expired or are about to. DISA will then re-evaluate the re-validated proposals.
DISA also says it will ask Jacobs for the salaries for its employees under the current Test, Evaluation and Certification 1 contract awarded in 2017.
Though DISA is asking for 180 days, the agency said it expects to complete the reconsideration in less time.
Business Integra has until April 21 to file its objections, otherwise it looks likely that the court will grant DISA’s request for a remand.