GAO upholds Lockheed HITS protest

The General Accounting Office has upheld Lockheed Martin's protest of the award of the HUD Information Technology Services (HITS) contract to EDS, but an EDS spokesman said his company still expects to keep the $860 million deal.

The Housing and Urban Development contract was awarded to EDS in August, but Lockheed protested first to HUD, and then to GAO after HUD denied the protest.

"We remain confident that our solution remains the best for HUD," said EDS spokesman Kevin Clarke. The company has not seen the official GAO ruling, he noted.

It remains unclear whether the ruling will lead to HUD re-opening the contract competition, Clarke said.

"We feel that HUD may have misevaluated our proposal," said Nettie Johnson, director of communications for Lockheed Martin Information Systems, in an earlier interview. "We decided we did have enough grounds to protest the award."