Five companies protest exclusion from NASA’s $60B SEWP VI competition
Gettyimages.com/ May Lim / 500px
By
Nick Wakeman
Rulings are expected in late May and that timeline could force NASA to extend the current SEWP V beyond the current April 30 expiration date.
NASA has not announced any winners of the $60 billion SEWP VI vehicles, but the agency apparently is letting some companies know they will not get a spot on the 10-year IT product contract.
Five companies have filed protests at the Government Accountability Office, challenging NASA’s decision to eliminate them from consideration during phase one of the evaluation process.
Blazar Technology Solutions filed the first protest on Tuesday. Z-SofTech Solutions, METGreen Solutions, Bridges Systems Integration and Blue Obsidian Solutions all filed on Wednesday.
GAO expects to make rulings on the protests by May 27.
The protests may extend the timeline for NASA’s final award decisions because the agency has expected to announce winners before SEWP V expires on April 30.
Because of the volume of proposals, it has taken NASA longer to make awards and that led the agency to extend the current iteration until April 30. SEWP VI will begin the day after SEWP V ends.
With GAO's due date for decisions coming in late May, NASA could have to extend SEWP V again.
If one or more decisions go against NASA, the agency may have to extend SEWP V even longer.
SEWP has been one of the most successful IT programs in the market since NASA launched it in 1993. Each version has grown, not only in offerings, but also in how vendors and agency customers use the vehicle.
For SEWP VI, NASA added more standalone services to meet the agency’s desire to buy services and products together.
The new version has three primary categories:
- IT, communications and audio-visual
- Enterprise-wide IT
- Mission IT
NASA also is dealing with the prospect of the General Services Administration potentially taking over the SEWP program as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to streamline and consolidate acquisition.
Speaking in December, GSA's associate administrator for governmentwide policy Larry Allen said GSA could take the program over even before final awards are made.
Allen said President Trump’s March 20, 2025 executive order titled "Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement," makes it clear that contracts and governmentwide acquisition contracts for common items will be consolidated at GSA.
“We want to execute that executive order,” he said.