The National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) plans to take corrective action and reevaluate proposals under its $50 billion Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4 (CIO-SP4) contract, after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) upheld 98 protests to the IT services contract.
CIO-SP4 is designed to deliver IT solutions and services in an infinite-delivery and infinite-quality contract, with a ceiling of $50 billion and a five-year option. CIO-SP4 will replace the CIO-SP3 contract, which NITAAC had initially extended through October 2023.
In a statement issued on July 11, NITAAC said it will now extend the CIO-SP3 contract for an additional six months to April 29, 2024 – nearly two years past its original expected end date.
“Based on the GAO decision in Systems Plus Inc., et al., B?419956.184 et al. as well as additional decisions addressing pro se protests, NITAAC plans to take the corrective action required to reevaluate all proposals, consistent with the decision,” NITAAC said. “In the meantime, the CIO-SP3 programs currently expire October 29, 2023, and although we do not anticipate needing an additional six months we will provide it to April 29, 2024, to ensure there is no gap in contractual coverage for our customers between CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP4.”
NITAAC noted that while recent attention has been placed on the GAO’s decision to uphold the 98 protests, “it is equally as important to note the overwhelming number of protest arguments/allegations that have been dismissed, withdrawn, or found to have no merit.”
The agency said there have been 350 protests and supplemental protests filed with GAO against the CIO-SP4 contract. Additionally, NITAAC received 23 agency-level protests. NITAAC has won a majority of those cases, and said GAO has only sustained a total of three allegations, “including those sustained in the current decisions.”
“Rest assured, NITAAC is steadfastly working to bring CIO-SP4 to market,” NITAAC said. “The $50 billion GWAC will be the go-to resource for agencies looking to procure information technology (IT) – such as blockchain, cybersecurity, agile software development and ‘as-a-service-solutions’ – and will offer over a hundred new labor categories and ten task areas encompassing new and emerging IT, and a myriad of potential small business partners in eight socioeconomic categories.”
