Deloitte backs off SHARKCAGE protest
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By
Nick Wakeman
Accenture can now begin working on the $789 million Navy cybersecurity contract after Deloitte withdrew its challenge.
Deloitte Consulting has backed away from its protest of a potential $789 million Navy contract won by Accenture's U.S. federal subsidiary.
The SHARKCAGE contract is part of a Navy effort to build a new IT environment for sensing, detecting and analyzing activity across its networks.
Accenture Federal Services won the contract in February and Deloitte followed with a protest against how the Navy evaluated proposals. More specifically, Deloitte didn’t like how its proposal for a prospective task order was evaluated.
Deloitte also criticized how the Navy evaluated its technical and management approaches, and the firm's plan for supply chain risk management.
Deloitte filed its protest on March 6 and a decision by the Government Accountability Office would have been due June 14.
The company withdrew its protest on Tuesday. Most withdrawals happen after companies receive an agency's response to the protest.
Attempts to reach Deloitte for a comment were unsuccessful.
With the protest over, Accenture is clear to start work on the contract that will use commercial products for cybersecurity and analytics functions. SHARKCAGE will cover shore, mobile, expeditionary and afloat modes.
The contract also supports the Navy’s Information-21, ONENet and Navy-Marine Corps Intranet networks.