GAO says the USAjobs job goes to Monster

The Government Accountability Office may finally have ended the two-year saga surrounding the refurbishing of the Web site.Earlier this month, GAO rejected a second protest by Symplicity Corp. of Arlington, Va., of the Office of Personnel Management’s contract award to Monster Government Solutions of Maynard, Mass., to run the government’s online employment portal.GAO had upheld Symplicity’s January protest of the original award to Monster. But OPM decided against recompeting the contract until the House Government Reform Committee threatened to withhold future project funding.OPM released the new request for proposals in July 2004, and it took about 12 months to award the new contract, again to Monster. Symplicity submitted another protest, but this time GAO sided with OPM.GAO said OPM evaluated the offers fairly and that Symplicity did not address the agency’s concerns about the company’s proposal, including training for federal employees and integrating America’s Job Bank with USAjobs.gov.A Symplicity spokesman said the company had not decided whether to pursue the matter further.Monster’s contract is worth $27.1 milion over five years and includes a number of improvements for the site.