DOT cancels $21M solicitation

The Transportation Department has canceled a $21 million solicitation for information technology services.

The solicitation, posted in mid-March, was for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The contract was to demonstrate and test an existing Oracle Corp./Microsoft Corp. Windows-based commercial, off-the-shelf software program to estimate and project salary and benefit costs.

Officials canceled the solicitation because they found a solution in another transportation agency that would work for them, said Bill Macleod, director of communication for the safety administration.

"Generally speaking, our business rules are compatible with that of the business rules in the existing system," he said. "It€s not unusual for federal agencies to sign agreements expanding the user community for a particular proprietary system. Nothing's easy in the computer world, but we look forward to a smooth and effective implementation."

According to the original solicitation, the department was looking for a salary management system that could give automated support for the development of personnel and payroll data.

The system would have been used for two of the department's operating administrations, with the equivalent of about 1,700 full-time employees.