DISA plans new Encore II award
Officials said they are re-evaluating proposals and hope to award the $12 billion contract in mid-December.
Defense Information Systems Agency officials are re-evaluating all proposals submitted for the $12 billion Encore II contract, and the agency is expected to award the contract by mid-December, DISA officials said.
The agency initially awarded the large-business portion of the contract to Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI International, EDS, Lockheed Martin, Science Applications International Corp. and SRA International Jan. 26.
Weeks later, Computer Sciences Corp., Unisys, Northrop Grumman and IBM Business Consulting Services, which also had submitted proposals, protested the contract award on the grounds that DISA failed to evaluate their offers properly.
The Government Accountability Office sustained their protest May 10 and issued guidelines for corrective action DISA must take before awarding the contract again. In response, DISA canceled the original awards, said DISA Procurement Director Evelyn De Palma July 10.
Late last month, officials published an amendment to the Encore II request for proposals, asking vendors to keep honoring their offers until Dec. 15 so a new evaluation process can unfold, De Palma said.
According to the amendment, vendors have until the end of this week to notify DISA about the continued validity of their bids.
De Palma said DISA is not soliciting new offers for the December contract award, adding that only vendors considered during the previous evaluation period will be in the pool.
She said the expected one-year delay of the Encore II contract award will have no affect on agency operations because DISA officials can use the existing Encore I contract vehicle, which is good through March 2009.
Under the Encore II contract, the Pentagon plans to buy information technology, including hardware and software to services, designed to boost the military's network-centric capabilities.