SOC, a Day & Zimmermann company, filed a bid protest June 28 over the Department of Energy’s decision to stand by a February award of a security services contract to Securitas-led SRS Critical Infrastructure Security.
It is the second challenge filed by a losing bidder with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over the $1-billion contract awarded at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Centerra, the incumbent, protested the award a week ago.
Such challenges filed with GAO do not provide detail as to the nature of the protest and details do not usually emerge until a written opinion is published on the federal watchdog’s website.
Following an initial contract challenge by SOC in late February, DOE announced in March it was re-evaluating its award at Savannah River.
In May, DOE extended Centerra’s existing $1-billion contract to protect people, facilities, nuclear materials and sensitive information at Savannah River by four months into early October.
With the 100-day window for GAO to make a decision, a ruling on the SOC protest should arrive by Oct. 6, which would be a week after the deadline for the watchdog to rule on Centerra’s protest. The GAO could decide to rule on both challenges at the same time.
The current winning team, SRS Critical Infrastructure Security, is made up of Securitas CIS, K2 Solutions, Spectra Tech, System Studies & Simulation and Kachemak Bay Flying Service.
A Bechtel-led team, Idaho Remediation, filed a protest in mid-June, over the potential 10-year, $6.4-billion contract awarded to a Jacobs-led group, Idaho Environmental Coalition, for cleanup at the Idaho National Laboratory. The current remediation contractor is Fluor Idaho.
The GAO should make a decision in the Idaho case by Sept. 23.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims is considering whether to review a Small Business Administration panel’s ruling that Swift & Staley exceeds the size requirements for the $160-million support services contract at the DOE’s Paducah Site in Kentucky.
DOE awarded the landlord contract to incumbent Swift & Staley in December before the Small Business Administration upheld a protest filed by another firm, Akima Intra-Data.
