Protests hit Veterans Affairs' T4NG2 contract

Several companies are challenging how the Veterans Affairs Department picked the winners for the recompete of its go-to IT services and solutions contract.

VA selected 30 companies for the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation 2 vehicle in late October, and then swapped out one awardee for another in early March.

But apparently, debriefings with the 177 companies that bid have been completed over recent weeks. T4NG2 will have an estimated $61 billion ceiling over up to 10 years.

Taurian Consulting, Peregrine Digital Services and CSE VETS are challenging how VA conducted evaluations. They all have filed protests at the Government Accountability Office.

VA told bidders it would rank bidders according to their self-scoring sheets and then validate those scores. Awards went to the companies with top 30 validated scores and with fair and reasonable pricing.

The protesters are challenging how VA validated their scores. They claim that if the department had properly validated their scores, they would have been among the top 30 and should have received an award.

Like with the current version, T4NG2 will be VA’s primary vehicle for acquiring IT services. VA has obligated approximately $15 billion to-date against T4NG, which was awarded in 2016 and is slated to expire in 2026.

VA's plan is for both contracts to overlap for a certain period of time.

Given how similar the complaints are, the protests likely will be combined into a single case. Taurian filed its protest on Monday, while Peregrine and CSE submitted their challenges on Tuesday.

If combined, the due date for a GAO decision will be June 26.