One of the losers of a competition for a potential multi-billion dollar Air Force space launch range support contract asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Dec. 18 to reconsider its dismissal of a protest.
Range Generation Next LLC, a joint venture of Raytheon [RTN] and General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), beat out InSpace 21 LLC, a joint venture of PAE and Honeywell [HON]; IBL JV LLC, a joint venture of Exelis [XLS], L-3 Communications [LLL] and BAE Systems; and Consolidated Range Enterprise (CoRE), a joint venture of InDyne Corp., Lockheed Martin [LMT] and URS Corp.; in November for a contract initially worth $86 million but potentially worth $2 billion if all options are exercised (Defense Daily, Nov. 7).
InSpace 21 LLC asked GAO to reconsider its decision to dismiss a protest filed Nov. 24 by a PAE vice president on behalf of InSpace 21, which argued in its protest that the Air Force failed to conduct meaningful discussions and that the best value tradeoff and source selection decision was unreasonable. IBL JV LLC also protested the contract award to Range Generation Next, but withdrew its protest on Dec. 15. Exelis spokeswoman Leah Lackey said Friday the joint venture is not considering refilling its protest. She declined to say why IBL JV withdrew its protest.
A dispute between PAE and Honeywell over whether to protest eventually led GAO to dismiss the protest. GAO said a PAE vice president filed a protest Nov. 24, but Honeywell the next day said PAE didn’t have the authority to do so as the joint venture’s board did not vote unanimously to protest. According to GAO, board minutes filed by Honeywell showed disagreement between the two companies about whether unanimous or majority consent was required to protest.
GAO concluded that the protestor, PAE, was not an interested party because the two joint venture companies could not agree on who is authorized to file a protest on behalf of InSpace 21. GAO also said though Honeywell asked the office to resolve their dispute, GAO by law is not allowed to review disputes between private parties.
GAO expects a decision no later than March 30, though reconsideration decisions usually arrive much sooner. The Launch and Test Range System Integrated Support Contract (LISC) covers Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. It also provides operations, organizational- and depot-level maintenance and sustainment at the two launch sites. LISC represents an Air Force effort to consolidate many launch range sustainment contracts into one.