Resolution in the works for $1.9B IRS contract

A settlement is in the works that will likely resolve several protests involving the IRS' $1.9 billion contract known as EPPIS.

The Enterprise Program Project Integration Services contract is a blanket purchase agreement that was awarded to five companies in early August: Centennial Technology, Deloitte Consulting, Etelligent Group, Integrated Systems and Noblis.

Several disappointed bidders went to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in September with complaints about how evaluations were conducted. Statements in the filings by AccelGov, 22nd Century Technologies, Chevo Consulting, FedTec and Harmonia Holdings also complained about a lack of transparency in the award process.

But a status report filed to the court Friday indicates the government has offered a corrective action.

The nature of that action has not been revealed and attorneys for the protesters declined to comment.

Most corrective actions involve a re-evaluation and new award decisions.

The court needs to approve the corrective action and will likely dismiss the protests without ruling on their merits. This will leave the door open for protesters to come back with new filings if the IRS again decides to not award them a contract.

GovTribe information on EPPIS says the IRS' goal is to align program, technical and management approaches, organize resources and management controls with costs, performance requirements and scheduling demands.

Once EPPIS is in place, companies will compete for individual task orders.