Updated October 17, 2019 DIGEST - Protest challenging agency’s exclusion from the competition for failing to comply with the solicitation’s requirements to submit certain financial documents is denied where the record shows that the protester’s teaming member submitted documents that were encrypted and did not provide the passwords required to decrypt them. BACKGROUND - The RFP was issued on March 14, 2016, for the award of additional indefinite‑delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts for NIH’s existing Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 3, small business governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC), for IT solutions and services. The agency received 552 proposals--of which 167 were for the 8(a) contractor group-- including a proposal from Opus.  COS at 2; Protest at 1.  NIH found Opus’ proposal unacceptable at phase 1 under the compliant proposal requirement.  Opus’ proposal included encrypted financial statements for two of its teaming members but did not provide decryption passwords that would allow NIH to review the files, thus rendering the proposal ineligible for further consideration… DECISION - Opus Group, LLC, of McLean, Virginia, protests the decision by the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health (NIH), to find its proposal unacceptable in the competition ... We deny the protest. Read the full 6-page decision here. Updated October 15, 2019 G2X TAKE: A formal challenge filed with GAO by small business and recent 8(a) graduate Opus Group shortly after NITAAC finalized the list of new awardees for the 8(a) On-Ramp for this $20B Best-in-Class Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), has been denied.   No details are available as to the grounds for the protest nor the reason for the decision but they will be shared here as they are made available. There are no other known outstanding protests at this time.   Details on the prior protests and decisions are available in the thread below.  Updated August 7, 2019   G2X TAKE: A formal challenge filed with GAO by woman-owned small business and JV, AT-Impact, one of the two protests filed shortly after NITAAC finalized the list of new awardees for the 8(a) On-Ramp for this $20B Best-in-Class Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), has now been withdrawn.   No additional details as to the reason for the protest, nor the withdrawal, have been released at this time. The protest by Opus Group remains open.  Details on the sequence of protests and decisions is available in the thread below.  Updated July 25, 2019 G2X TAKE: Not long after NITAAC finalized the list of new awardees for the 8(a) On-Ramp for this $20B Best-in-Class Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), comes word of what is now a second official challenge being put forth related to the competition to be added to this important contract.  The latest protest, by woman-owned small business and JV, AT-Impact, has a listed due date for a decision of October 30, 2019. As is generally the case, no information is available at this time as to the grounds for the protest. In addition, no details are available as to how/if this impacts either the 8(a) or SB portions of the On-Ramp. More will be shared as it is made available.  Details on the series of protests and decisions thus far is available in the thread below.  Updated July 18, 2019 G2X TAKE: Just days after NITAAC finalized the list of new awardees for the 8(a) On-Ramp for this $20B Best-in-Class Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), comes word of a new challenge put forth by a small business and recent 8(a) graduate.   No details are available as to the grounds for the protest filed by Opus Group. A listed due date for a decision is no later than October 23, 2019.  It is unclear how and if this protest will impact the ability for NITAAC to proceed with this portion of the On-Ramp and any related task order activity.   The good news is that NITAAC has seen nearly every argument thrown their way, and they will be motivated to put all protests behind them quickly.   Details on the series of protests and decisions thus far is available in the thread below.  Updated May 28, 2019 G2X TAKE: A Court of Federal Claims challenge put forth by Biswas Information Technology Solutions was voluntarily dismissed late last week. According to court documents, "Plaintiff Biswas Information Technology Solutions, Inc., through undersigned counsel, files this Notice of Voluntary Dismissal in light of Defendant’s Status Report and Notice of Corrective Action, filed May 24, 2019." Details as to what corrective action was taken have not been released at this time.  G2X is not aware of any other active protests. We will update as we hear more, but this latest action appears to clear the path for NITAAC to finalize awards on this important GWAC.  Updated May 23, 2019 G2X TAKE: The type of action filed by HEJV Energetics JV with GAO has been changed in the system, and is now identified as Bid Protest: Entitlement. The good news is that this should not slow down the process as it is typically only an effort by the protestor to recoup legal costs associated with a successful protest.  Updated May 22, 2019  G2X TAKE: For those firms closely tracking the progress of the competition for the 8(a) portion of the On-Ramp for this important $20B GWAC, two pieces of recent news include word of a freshly filed protest and a potential agreement on how to resolve another outstanding challenge.   The first, a new protest action, has been filed with GAO by HEJV Energetics JV. No details are available as to the grounds for the protest, but any information will be shared here as it is made available. HEJV's prior protest was dismissed by GAO in mid-April. The due date for a decision is listed as no later than August 28, 2019.  The second piece of news is in relation to the bid protest filed with the Court of Federal Claims by Biswas Information Technology Solutions (see thread below for details.) The latest word  -- "The court is in receipt of the parties’ May 16, 2019 joint motion to stay all deadlines. The parties’ motion states that “[t]he parties jointly request that the Court stay all filing deadlines in this case. Since the Court held a hearing in this matter on April 25, 2019, the parties have endeavored to resolve the matter without further litigation. The parties believe that a tentative agreement has been reached, but approval of any agreement to resolve the matter is not yet final.”   The potential for a quick resolution is expected to be known as early as late this week. More will be shared here as it is made public.   Updated April 26, 2019 G2X TAKE: For those firms closely tracking the progress of the competition for the 8(a) portion of the On-Ramp for this important $20B GWAC designed to support the full range of IT services and health IT needs across the Federal Government, there were two updates Thursday - one that sheds light on the protest sustainment, the other related to a new intervenor in the court case.  The full 9-page GAO decision document related to the recently sustained protest put forth by Chags Health Information Technology (C-HIT) has been published. The good news for potential 8(a) bidders is that the issue raised as part of the challenge does not appear to be systemic, as it was isolated to this specific proposal and related to the submission of a password being submitted prior to the proposal due date to decrypt a required document in the proposal. GAO sided with C-HIT and recommended that NITAAC "decrypt the document and evaluate the protester's proposal". We would expect this to be resolved relatively quickly with the potential for very limited impact on the timeline for the award. Read the full decision here. With regard to the announcement of a bid protest being filed with the Court of Federal Claims by Biswas Information Technology Solutions (see thread below), there was an update as a motion to Intervene On Behalf of the Defendant USA was filed by announced On Ramp awardee, Precise Software Solutions, Inc. -- "In this case, Precise shares with the defendant United States the defense that the protester’s proposal does not rise to the level of the potential awardees under this contract as a potential future competitor. Precise also shares with the defendant the knowledge of the details of the procurement and the details of a prevailing proposal. Precise can assist the parties and this court in a proper resolution of this protest." Source: USCourts. If it drags out, this protest does threaten to impact the timeline and value of this contract to awardees. More will be shared here as it is made available.  Updated April 24, 2019 "This is to inform potential awardees who had proposed to be considered under the Section 8(a) Group of offerors that Biswas Information Technology Solutions, Inc. has filed a bid protest in the Court of Federal Claims in case no. 19-605 arising from RFP No. NIHJT2016015 (CIO-SP3 Small Business Government Wide Acquisition Contract). The court has scheduled a status conference hearing for Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 3:00pm EDT. The court further ordered the government to “notify any potential intervenors of the above-captioned protest with instructions to contact the court by Thursday, April 25, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., EDT, with the name of the potential intervenor’s counsel, if any potential intervenors wish to participate in the initial hearing.” Source: FBO Read more here. G2X TAKE: Adding to the questions surrounding the 8(a) portion of the On-Ramp for CIO-SP3 SB, NITAAC announced publicly yesterday that a bid protest has been filed with the Court of Federal Claims. Any "potential intervenors" are asked to contact the court.  Updated April 23, 2019 G2X TAKE:  A decision on [eventmember] the last three remaining open protests was handed down last week, with the protests put forth by ESAC and BITS Denied, while the challenge levied by HEJV Energetics is identified as Dismissed. As previously noted, dismissed does not always means the action is resolved and often times indicates that the agency has agreed to take proactive steps to address issues raised as part of the protest. At this point, all known protests have received a decision and there are no other open actions. The big question mark remains how the recent Sustainment of a protest out forth by C-HIT will impact the award and timeline. No public information is available at this time. More on that protest decision is included below.  Updated April 12, 2019 G2X TAKE: With only a handful of active protests remaining open there was a level of cautious optimism that the 8(a) portion of the On-Ramp may be resolved in time to see some action in FY19. The recent announcement that GAO has sided with one of the protestors threatens any likelihood that this will be resolved quickly.  Details as to the grounds for the protest put forth by C-HIT have not been made available, nor why GAO has sustained this protest.  G2X cannot speak to the specifics of this protest, but we will say that a sustained protest typically only happens when the Government does not see merit in the argument and/or does not take corrective action, forcing GAO to make a final ruling. Smaller issues that have limited impact on the procurement would typically be dealt with as part of a dismissal/proactive corrective action process to remedy the identified issue.  Any sustained ruling would typically carry a recommended corrective action from GAO that can range everywhere from issues isolated to this specific protestor, all the way to broader issues that force larger re-evaluation (see what is happening with Alliant 2 SB right now). More will be shared here as it is made available.  The latest set of awards named four confirmed awardees for the Section 8(a) group of contract holders and 95 potential 8(a) small businesses whose contract awards are pending eligibility determinations from the Small Business Administration. See the full list of potential awardees here. Updated April 10, 2019 G2X TAKE: Two more Protest denials this week - one related to a challenge by Shivoy, Inc. and the other by Trillion Technology Solutions. More on the remaining active protests is in the thread immediately below this update. The current listed due dates for a decision on the outstanding protests is mid-April, so all should be resolved soon.  Updated April 2, 2019 G2X TAKE: NITAAC and GAO continue to work their way down the long list of protests related to this $20B IDIQ designed to support the full range of IT services and health IT needs across the Federal Government, with two more denials now added to the list. The protests by Network Runners and Appteon have both been marked as denied. No information is available as to the details of the protests nor the reason for the denials but we will check-in and update here at regular intervals.  That leaves 6 outstanding open protest actions on the docket: BITS, C-HIT, Shivoy, ESAC, Trillion Technology Solutions, and HEJV Energetics. The current listed due dates for decisions on the protests is mid-April, so all should be resolved soon. More information will be provided as it is made available. The latest set of awards named four confirmed awardees for the Section 8(a) group of contract holders and 95 potential 8(a) small businesses whose contract awards are pending eligibility determinations from the Small Business Administration. See the full list of potential awardees here. Updated February 27, 2019 G2X TAKE: NITAAC and GAO continue to make progress as they whittle down the long list of protests related to this $20B IDIQ designed to support the full range of IT services and health IT needs across the Federal Government. Here are a couple of updates.   The protest by Graham Technologies has been denied while a protest by Scope Infotech has been withdrawn. No information is available as to the details for the protests nor the reason for the withdrawal or denial but we will check-in and update here at regular intervals.    Updated February 13, 2019 G2X TAKE: While the list of known challenges related to the award of this $20B IDIQ remains quite long, this recent dismissal does provide hope for the newly selected 8(a) awardees that this vehicle will become a viable option in FY19.  A protest filed by LinTech Global has now been dismissed by GAO. This in itself is unremarkable as a slew of protests remain open and a dismissal does not indicate that this is resolved. But, we do mention it here as this type of relatively quick action does provide some indication that NITAAC and GAO are prepared to do away with these protests before the stated GAO deadlines for a decision. Having now been through multiple on-ramps for CIO-SP3 SB, and having received dozens of protests, we suspect there is little new that will be put in front of NITAAC or GAO, and NITAAC is clearly well versed in the process.  We will not be reporting on every protest action as they get resolved, but we will check-in and keep this item up to date as progress continues.  Updated January 18, 2019 G2X TAKE: Shivoy, BITS, and ESAC joined the protest party. We should note that the early January protest by Technology Information Systems (TIS) has already been dismissed. The rest may not move as fast, but NITAAC has had plenty of practice dealing with protests on the previous groups, so we do expect this to get resolved quickly.  Updated January 14, 2019 G2X TAKE: 3 more protesters join the growing list of challengers who filed actions with GAO shortly after a long list of potential 8(a) Prime awardees was announced for this $20B IDIQ designed to support the full range of IT services and health IT needs across the Federal Government. An official protest has now been filed by Scope Infotech; Trillion Technology Solutions; and HEJV Energetics.  These three join known outstanding protests filed by Network Runners; Graham Technologies; InfiniSource Consulting Solutions (ICS); C-HIT; LinTech Global;  Technology Information Systems, LLC and Appteon.  The current listed due dates for decisions on the protests is mid-April. More information will be provided as it is made available.  The latest set of awards named four confirmed awardees for the Section 8(a) group of contract holders and 95 potential 8(a) small businesses whose contract awards are pending eligibility determinations from the Small Business Administration. See the full list of potential awardees here. Updated January 9, 2019 G2X TAKE:  Adding to the initial protest levied just days after NITAAC announced the long list of potential 8(a) Prime awardees for this $20B IDIQ designed to support the full range of IT services and health IT needs across the Federal Government, comes word of several additional challenges.  An official protest has now been filed with GAO by Network Runners; Graham Technologies; InfiniSource Consulting Solutions (ICS); C-HIT; LinTech Global; and Appteon. Details as to the grounds for the challenges have not been revealed at this time. The current listed due date for a decision is April 17, 2019. More information will be provided as it is made available.  More on the other recent protest by Technology Information Systems and a link to the full list of awardees is available in the thread below. Published January 2, 2019 G2X TAKE: Only days after NITAAC announced the long list of potential 8(a) Prime awardees for this $20B IDIQ designed to support the full range of IT services and health IT needs across the Federal Government, comes word of a challenge.  An official protest has been filed with GAO by 8(a) Small Business, Technology Information Systems, LLC. Details as to the grounds of the challenge have not been revealed at this time. The current listed due date for a decision is April 8, 2019. More information will be provided as it is made available.  The latest set of awards named four confirmed awardees for the Section 8(a) group of contract holders and 95 potential 8(a) small businesses whose contract awards are pending eligibility determinations from the Small Business Administration. See the full list of potential awardees here. [/eventmember]