The Government Accountability Office on Monday denied a protest against Lockheed Martin’s $4.6 billion contract award to support the Pentagon’s global data network.
In its June protest to GAO, Science Applications International Corp. claimed that the Defense Information Systems Agency unreasonably evaluated Lockheed’s technical risk and costs, according to GAO. SAIC also said that DISA failed to meaningfully investigate whether Lockheed had unequal access to information pertaining to the contract, which would have been an organizational conflict of interest (OCI).
GAO determined that DISA’s evaluation of Lockheed’s proposal was “reasonable and consistent with [the]solicitation’s evaluation criteria,” Ralph White, GAO’s managing associate general counsel for procurement law, said in a statement. “GAO also concluded that the agency reasonably investigated Lockheed’s alleged OCI.”
Lawyers from both sides are working to release a public version of the decision.
“Lockheed Martin submitted an affordable and innovative solution, and we regard this as an opportunity to coordinate with DISA to improve the speed and efficiency of information exchange between our joint warfighters around the world as well as their commanders and allies,” Gerry Fasano, president of Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions- Defense, said in a statement. “We have remained transition-ready throughout the protest period and look forward to beginning work on this critical mission.”
Lockheed Martin Corp. beat out incumbent SAIC to provide daily operations and sustainment of the Defense Department’s global data network. The contract has a ceiling of $4.6 billion over seven years — three base years and two two-year option years.
