Complicated Protest
The protest over a deal at the Defense Information Systems Agency shows just how baroque federal contracting has become -- and how much money is at stake.
Computer Sciences Corp., Unisys, Northrop Grumman Information Technology Inc. and IBM Business Consulting Services--Federal complained about DISA's method for determining who got a piece of the agency's $12.2 billion Encore II contracts.
That's right, $12.2 billion. The contract was designed to allow a variety of DoD agencies to buy information technology and services over the next decade.
The whole thing is enormously complex. For starters, it was a "negotiated procurement." The arrangement for the deal and the subcontractors and such unfolded through a series of "discussions."
Those talks involved the "comparative assessment of the merits" of each plan, according to the Government Accountability Office's brief description of the matter. The winner was chosen based on "best value," which is a powerful idea in economic terms but a very difficult thing to determine.
Gone are the days of simply buying something for the best price.
Anyway, the protesters in this deal challenged a variety of things, including the "past performance" of the companies, the "price evaluation," the "conduct of exchanges" with them and last but not least, the "selection decision."
Imagine being the steward of taxpayer dollars and having to sort through all that technical and economic detail in search of an arrangement that will work for the government and is also fair to the contractors.
That's how things have evolved. The government needs information technology more than ever. Contractors know a lot more in general than most federal agencies. There's no place else to go for help but the companies already serve in effect as private arms of the government.
By Robert O'Harrow |
July 26, 2007; 6:05 AM ET
protests
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Posted by: dave | July 26, 2007 8:54 AM
I love your "baroque" observation, but am not sure it's apt. In the arts, Baroque is the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music (Wiki def). The only things that may apply to fed acq is exaggerated motion and tension.
The post may inadvertantly suggest to some that a "negotiated" procurement is loosey-goosey discussion. Actually, FAR regs for negotiated procurements call for formal proposals. That, plus the preceding solicitation provide the foundation for back and forth--discussions, clarifications, and revisions in requirements, price, schedule, spec, etc. Most services contracts are "negotiated" in this way. "Sealed bid," where lowest price wins and there is no give-and-take is used for standard items.
BTW, from the description given, there's nothing particularly complex about the buy or the protest. Multiple protesters are not infrequent, and the items they attack are among the very common ones.
The tens of thousands of government people in the acq and proc communities, the stewards as you call them, deal with these challenges every day. So do the suppliers. It's a very well worn path, but not as complex as some might infer from the post.
As for the dollars, plenty of IT services contracts never reach their ceiling amounts. For every NMCI that does, there's one like Accenture's USVISIT that is burning at a rate that will never reach the $10 billion ceiling originally ballyhooed.
Posted by: Michael Lent | July 26, 2007 10:09 AM
You're an idiot who apparently doesn't understand procurement or contracting.
Posted by: JoeyR | July 27, 2007 8:59 AM
I am assuming that you already know the protest was upheld and DISA cancelled all awards and will award again in Dec. http://www.fcw.com/article103193-07-11-07-Web
Posted by: Ed | July 27, 2007 11:03 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
"Gone are the days of simply buying something for the best price." I believe this statement reflects that belief, or lack of understanding, that some people have when it comes to commerce in general. Best price, by no means has any correlation to getting the desired outcome. Low price wins mentality is part of the problem with contracts within the gov't as low price intially can actually end up costing the taxpayers more money in the long run do to the fact that low price was chosen without taking into consideration other factors.