The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Friday it has upheld the Navy’s awarding of the contract for the service’s next-generation intranet known as NGEN to Hewlett-Packard [HP].
Harris Corp. [HRS] had lodged the protest in July following the award to HP for the Next Generation Enterprise Network in a contract that could reach a total value of $3.5 billion if all annual options over five years are exercised. Harris partner Computer Sciences Corp. [CSC] also filed a protest but withdrew it in August, spokeswoman Heather Williams said.
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| Photo by U.S. Navy |
Harris challenged the award by questioning the price proposed by Hewlett-Packard in a competition that was designed to contract the lowest price bidder who met the defined technical requirements. Harris also alleged that the Navy’s NGEN program manager’s involvement in an improper relationship with a contractor may have also tainted the outcome.
The GAO rejected both assertions, saying there was no basis to challenge Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command’s (SPAWAR) evaluation of the cost in the HP proposal.
“We find no basis to question the agency’s determination that Hewlett-Packard’s proposed price was reasonable, realistic, and balanced,” the GAO said. “We have considered all of Harris’ various arguments challenging the agency’s price evaluation and find no merit in them.”
HP’s bid came in about $90 million below the combined Harris-CSC bid, according to the GAO.
The GAO also ruled there were no grounds for asserting that the improper relationship between the Navy program manager and the Booz Allen Hamilton contractor impacted the award, saying that while Booz Allen employees were supporting the procurement, there was no evidence they were tied to HP.
“Harris’s multiple protest submissions have failed to draw any logical connection between the ‘adulterous relationship’ of the Navy program manager and the Booz Allen Hamilton employee, and Harris’s assertion that the selection of Hewlett- Packard was somehow improper,” the GAO said.
“Harris’ assertions that the Booz Allen Hamilton employee or Navy program manager may have ‘stood to benefit’ from the award to Hewlett-Packard and that the contracting officer had an obligation to further investigate the matter fails to state a basis for protest,” the GAO added. “Accordingly, this portion of Harris’s protest is dismissed.”
Days before awarding the contract in June, the Navy fired Capt. Shawn Hendricks as NGEN program manager “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to lead” after a SPAWAR investigation concluded he had engaged in “an improper relationship and unprofessional behavior.”
NGEN is the follow-on to the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) and is intended to provide secure, net-centric data and services to 800,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel and connects to 400,000 workstations. NMCI is largest intranet in the U.S. government and began in 2000 under a contract with Electronic Data Systems, which HP acquired in 2008.
Harris is currently an HP subcontractor for NMCI.
The HP team on NGEN includes Northrop Grumman [NOC], IBM [IBM], AT&T [T] and Lockheed Martin [LMT]. The Harris-CSC consisted of General Dynamics [GD] and Verizon Communications [VZ].