SAIC wins second chance at $457M Air Force IT modernization award
A pair of F-16 fighter jets fly in formation. Gettyimages.com/ CT757fan
By
Nick Wakeman
The service branch has quickly agreed to re-evaluate proposals and make a new decision.
Science Applications International Corp. has secured another shot at a $457.5 million Air Force task order contract to modernize the service branch's enterprise and tactical architecture.
The Air Force awarded the order to HII through the IAC-MAC vehicle, known in full as the Information Analysis Center Multiple Award Contract. HII inherited its place on the vehicle through its acquisition of Alion Science & Technology in 2021.
SAIC filed a protest on April 15 to challenge the source decision. Just two weeks later, the Government Accountability Office has dismissed the protest now that the Air Force is taking a corrective action.
The service branch will re-evaluate proposals and make a new best-value determination.
SAIC argued that the Air Force didn’t recognize the superiority of its proposal and unreasonably assigned a weakness to the bid.
The Air Force plans to use the task order to develop more innovative solutions across its IT environment.
Given how fast the Air Force moved, SAIC raised issues that the service branch determined it should address versus going through a full GAO decision.