Science Applications International Corp. was awarded the last spot on a $12 billion information technology contract by the Veterans Affairs Department, the agency said Tuesday.
VA awarded the contract on July 1 to 14 contractors — including Booz Allen Hamilton, Harris Corp. and Systems Research and Applications Corp. — out of more than 90 bidders to provide the department with systems and software engineering, cybersecurity, training and facilities support. The department awarded the last spot on its Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology contract to SAIC on Monday.
The 15th contract was on hold pending resolution of an earlier protest with the Government Accountability Office, but GAO dismissed the protest, VA said. It isn’t clear how GAO reached that decision, and the agency was not immediately available for comment.
The VA contracting officer has three days to notify unsuccessful bidders, which had not happened as of Tuesday evening. Once notified, the losing bidders will have three days to request a debriefing.
Cy Alba, a senior associate with the government contract firm PilieroMazza PLLC, predicts there will be other protests once losing bidders request and receive their debriefings. They will have 10 days from the time they know or should have known the basis for their protest to launch a bid protest with GAO.
