HITS déjà vu: Lockheed protests

Lockheed Martin Corp. officials have again filed a protest over an information technology services contract that the Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded to EDS.

The HUD Information Technology Services (HITS) contract could be worth $750 million during 10 years.

Lockheed officials protested the contract when EDS first won it about one year ago. Officials at the Government Accountability Office upheld that protest, and HUD officials reissued the proposal earlier this year.

HUD officials reawarded the contract to EDS earlier this month. Lockheed's new protest alleges that HUD's evaluation findings were unreasonable and that the agency failed to provide meaningful preaward discussions or to negate the competitive advantage that EDS gained by doing the transition work.

"Lockheed Martin protests infrequently and does so only when we deem it absolutely necessary," company officials said in a statement. "To ensure that a level playing field is established and maintained in this competition, we feel it is imperative that we submit this protest to the GAO."

EDS spokesman Kevin Clarke said the company has little to say about the protest.

"We will not comment on the specifics of the Lockheed protest other than to say that EDS' technical solution was deemed the superior offering by the Department of Housing and Urban Development not once, but twice," he said.