Peraton secures new shot at $1B enterprise IT contract

Gettyimages.com/ Ilya Burdun

The Defense Department backed away from an award to Deloitte after being told Peraton was likely to win its protest, which means proposals will be re-evaluated.

Peraton has battled its way back into contention for a $1 billion enterprise IT award at the Defense Department.

Deloitte originally won the task order to support the Defense Manpower Data Center with global enterprise management IT services. The order is known as IT GEMS.

Peraton filed a protest questioning how the technical, management and staffing approaches were evaluated and how past performance was judged. The company also found fault with the best-value tradeoff decision.

The protest was filed in February and a Government Accountability Office decision was expected on May 31.

But GAO has held an alternate dispute resolution conference and concluded that they were likely to rule in Peraton’s favor.

With that prospect, the center decided to take a corrective action rather than risk an unfavorable GAO decision. Peraton’s proposals will be ree-valuated, including how it uses a subcontractor and its technical approach.

The second chance is a significant for Peraton because it is the incumbent on the current contract known as World Wide COTS Hardware, Software, Maintenance and Integration III. Peraton added the contract through the acquisition of Perspecta in 2021.

Services cover hardware, software, and systems integration. Some of the global systems supported include the Real-time Automated Identification Systems, Defense Biometrics Identification System and Joint Asset Movement Management System.