For the second time in a year, the US Department of
Housing and Urban Development has awarded a disputed IT services
contract worth more than £410m to Electronic Data Systems instead
of to the supplier that previously provided the
services.
HUD awarded the contract again to EDS last Friday after a
seven-month review that began after the current IT services
supplier, Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training and Support (LMSTS),
filed a protest last year against the contract award. In its
complaint, LMSTS alleged that HUD misevaluated the business
proposals from the two companies and "made an irrational
source-selection decision." LMSTS held the previous HUD IT services
contract.
In response to the complaint, an audit by the Government
Accountability Office agreed and determined that HUD's decision to
award the contract to EDS was unreasonable and should be rebid. The
contract was originally valued at about £470m.
After a new review, however, HUD again awarded the contract to
EDS on Friday. Under the deal, EDS will provide the staff, hardware
and software, telecommunications, facilities and services needed to
deliver HUD's basic IT functions to about 18,000 workers in more
than 80 offices nationwide.
The contract has a base period of four months plus nine option
years, with a total potential value of £410m.
Nettie R Johnson, a spokeswoman for LMSTS, said in a statement
that the latest HUD decision is "even more surprising than its
first award" of the contract. "Although we are disappointed with
this outcome, we have requested a debrief and look forward to
learning how HUD made its selection of EDS. We will not have any
further comment on this matter until we receive our debriefing from
HUD."
Jereon Brown, a HUD spokesman, said on Tuesday he had no further
comment. "I can't go into specifics," Brown said.
Jim Duffey, vice-president of global sales for EDS, said in a
statement that despite the delays, the company is eager to get back
to work on the HUD IT project. "It has been a long and arduous
process, but the new award by HUD reaffirms that EDS offered the
superior solution - twice," he said.
The IT services will include enterprise-wide data processing and
management from mainframe to the desktop, information security,
technology refresh services, helpdesk, user support, disaster
recovery, printing and distribution, networking services, wireless,
TV/videoconferencing and web administration.
Todd R Weiss writes for Computerworld