Shutdown freezes protests over $700M Coast Guard award
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By
Nick Wakeman
FusionEdge and Koniag are taking issue with their bids not being selected, but their challenges are pushed back day-by-day until the government reopens.
A pair of disappointed bidders are challenging the Coast Guard’s decision to award a $700 million blanket purchase agreement to three other companies.
But because FusionEdge Solutions and Koniag Data Solutions filed their protests just days before the government shutdown, the Government Accountability Office will not rule on them anytime soon. GAO is closed along with most of the rest of the government.
Decisions were due Jan. 5 at the time of the filings. But with each day the government is closed, the due date for GAO’s ruling gets pushed out another day.
The Coast Guard plans to use the COMPASS BPA to support mission systems and provide lifecycle support and modernization support. The agency is also looking to adopt more of an agile development approach for its systems and applications, which can include preventative and adaptive maintenance work.
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Only 8(a) small businesses could pursue COMPASS, short for C5ISC Operational and Modernization Pipeline for Applications Support Services.
The Coast Guard received 20 bids and chose three companies -- AttainX, VivSoft Technologies, and a GoHPT-ISHPI joint venture called Agile Defense.
FusionEdge is challenging the awards to those three companies and claims the Coast Guard’s evaluation of proposals was flawed.
Koniag is arguing that the Coast Guard was wrong to rule the company as not eligible for an award.