GAO sticks by its ruling on protest of OPM e-gov buy

The General Accounting Office has pushed the Office of Personnel Management closer to reopening a procurement for Recruitment One-Stop—one of the 25 Quicksilver e-government projects.GAO late last month denied OPM’s appeal that the audit agency reconsider its finding of fault in the personnel agency’s award of a contract to TMP Worldwide Government Services of New York to revamp .“We looked at the issues OPM raised and declined to modify our decision,” GAO lawyer Sharon Larkin said.Bidder Symplicity Corp. of Arlington, Va., had filed the protest.GAO said OPM should re-evaluate all bids to determine whether the required work is within the scope of the winning company’s pact, which was awarded through TMP’s General Services Administration schedule contract.GAO officials also recommended that OPM reopen discussions with all bidders in the competitive range and evaluate revised offers.