DISA revisits Encore II contract

The Defense Information Systems Agency has revised its $12 billion Encore II information technology solutions contract and is re-evaluating bids from vendors that were “in the competitive range,” an agency spokesman said. DISA removed a restriction late last month that limited the contract to six awards to large businesses and five awards to small firms. There now are no restrictions on the number of awards, the spokesman said. On Jan. 26, the agency awarded spots on the 10-year contract to Booz Allen Hamilton, CACI International, EDS, Lockheed Martin, Science Applications International Corp. and SRA International. But four unsuccessful bidders — Computer Sciences Corp., Unisys, Northrop Grumman and IBM Business Consulting Services — protested the decision to the Government Accountability Office, asserting that DISA failed to properly evaluate bids. GAO sustained the protests last May. In response to the protest decision, DISA canceled all the awards in July. The spokesman said DISA is not reopening the request for proposals, but holding discussions with all the original vendors that met certain cost and best-value requirements to determine who would receive new awards. “The goal is to select the most highly rated offerors in accordance with the terms of the solicitation,” the spokesman said. Encore II, a follow-on to the $2.5 billion Encore I indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract awarded in March 2002, is for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance areas, in addition to all elements of the Global Information Grid. DISA’s RFP states that tasks would include policy and planning, integrated solutions management, performance benchmarking, business process re-engineering, requirement analysis, market research and prototyping, information and knowledge engineering, custom application development, product integration, test and evaluation, licensing and support, communications engineering, security engineering, telecommunications integration, computer-telephony integration, Web services, hardware and equipment, and software applications and licenses. The spokesman did not give a timetable for the new awards.