SOSi loses bid for second chance at $500M NSA contract
Gettyimages.com/dan
By
Nick Wakeman
The Government Accountability Office saw no issues with how the National Security Agency evaluated the proposal and held discussions with the company.
SOS International has lost its shot at a $500 million National Security Agency contract for language analysis services.
CACI International won the five-year contract, after which SOSi went to the Government Accountability Office with complaints about how NSA managed the procurement.
The company said that NSA held discussions that were misleading and not valuable. SOSi also argued that NSA misevaluated its proposal and conducted unequal evaluations.
SOSi also complained about the best-value decision because it was based on what the company said were flaws in treatment and evaluations.
GAO denied the protest, finding that the record of the procurement showed that NSA complied with applicable procurement laws and regulations. GAO also found that NSA treated bidders equally, so no one gained an advantage that way.
Because GAO didn’t find problems with how NSA conducted the procurement, the best-value decision was determined to be reasonable.
A written version of GAO's decision with details on the procurement has not been released yet. It is currently going through a vetting process with SOSi, CACI and NSA to determine what should be made public.
The contract supports NSA’s operations and cybersecurity directorate.