AECOM challenging $215M no-compete contract
An unaccompanied child waits to be processed at the Texas border in April 2021. Gettyimages.com/ John Moore / Staff
By
Nick Wakeman
The Health and Human Services Department used an exception in procurement rules that allows agencies to award certain contracts without competition.
NOTE: This article has been corrected. In an earlier version I identified the wrong company as the protester. AECOM is the correct company.
AECOM is challenging the Health and Human Services Department’s decision to award a one-year, $215 million contract without holding a competition.
Cherokee Nation Management and Consulting received the award to help the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Carrizo Springs, Texas provide care to unaccompanied minors at the Texas-Mexico border.
HHS applied an exception in the procurement rules that allows agencies to award a contract without competition.
The Interior Department’s procurement shop is awarding the contract on HHS' behalf. A decision from the Government Accountability Office is due Sept. 29.
After the Homeland Security Department takes unaccompanied minors into custody, they are turned over to the HHS refugee resettlement organization that provides care and supervision of the children.