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GCN Home > 07/03/06 issue

Army Corps keeps IT services in-house

Employees to partner with Lockheed Martin under $447 million contract

By Jason Miller, GCN Staff

The Army Corps of Engineers isn’t saying much about how a public-private partnership won the largest Defense Department competition under the new rules governing A-76, or how the partnership will go about saving the agency $1 billion over the next six years.

“We will make the final award after the protest period closes and we issue a letter of obligation,” said George Halford, a spokesman for the Corps of Engineers. “We can’t release the details of the [winning] plan until then.” But one thing is clear: The trend of partnerships between vendors and agencies on large A-76 competitions is increasing.

“Companies are more reticent to spend resources to stand alone and compete,” said Stan Soloway, president of the Professional Services Council, an industry association in Arlington, Va. “Given how problematic A-76 is, it may be that these teaming arrangements, which are limited in scope, may be more common.”

Under the Office of Management and Budget’s Circular A-76, agency organizations compete with the private sector for jobs deemed to be not inherently governmental.

The award marks DOD’s move back into the A-76 arena after its use of the hotly debated program was shut down because of statutory limitations.

For this competition, corps employees teamed with Lockheed Martin Corp. in a public-private partnership, similar to the Energy and Federal Aviation Administration A-76 competitions. This one is different, however, because the government is the prime contractor.

The contract is worth $447 million over six years, and the corps expects to save $1 billion over the same time frame.

There was one private-sector bidder, but the corps declined to say who it was. Halford said that, until the unsuccessful bidder is debriefed on why its bid lost and decides whether to protest, he cannot comment on the winning team’s bid.

The losing bidder has until July 17 to file a protest with the Government Accountability Office—which at press time had not received a complaint.

The corps’ employees also must receive their formal debriefing about the decision, which Halford said will come after the protest period.

More news on related topics: Defense IT, Management, Outsourcing, IT Management



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