Jacobs loses fight to keep $2.8B Special Operations IT contract

Jacobs has lost its fight at the Government Accountability Office to hang onto a potential $2.8 billion recompete with the Special Operations Command.

The company was the incumbent on the Special Operations Forces IT Enterprise Contract, known as SITEC, having first secured the work in 2018 via a takeaway.

SOCOM conducted the recompete as a task order through the Alliant 2 vehicle and Peraton won the award in the fall.

Jacobs quickly followed with a protest that claimed SOCOM didn't follow the solicitation's ground rules by saying one of the company's key personnel was unavailable.

The company also disagreed with the command’s finding that Peraton was a responsible contractor. Jacobs argued that the government didn’t investigate alleged violations of the Procurement Integrity Act.

In denying Jacobs' protest on Jan. 31, the Government Accountability Office ruled against Jacobs’ allegations involving the evaluation and SOCOM's finding that Peraton is a responsible contractor. GAO dismissed the Procurement Integrity Act allegation because Jacobs didn’t state a valid basis for a violation.

More details will become known once a public version of GAO's decision is released in the coming weeks.

But that ruling clears the way for Peraton to begin the transition as the prime. Because this is a task order, GAO has the final say and Jacobs cannot protest to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

A Jacobs official said the comment had no comment on the GAO decision.

The Special Operations Command uses the SITEC contract to acquire support for IT network operations and infrastructure. Services include end-user and device support, configuration, licensing, asset management and training. SITEC III will run for up to eight years.