Contractor challenges e-travel bid process
A technology company wants work stopped on an electronic travel initiative until the General Accounting Office decides whether the bid process was conducted fairly.
On Aug. 29, Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) filed a bid protest with GAO arguing that the recent $450 million eTravel contract awarded on Aug. 15 to Northrop Grumman and CW Government Travel was unfair.
"We believe that the EDS system offered the lowest overall cost," EDS spokesman Kevin Clarke said Monday. EDS provides travel management services to the Marshals Service, the International Trade Commission and the Veterans Affairs Department.
The eTravel initiative is managed by the General Services Administration, which aims to automate and consolidate travel processes for people traveling on official government business. The new systems are expected to simplify all portions of the process-planning, reimbursement and reconciliation. The systems will give managers up-to-the-minute access to their travel budget obligations and allow travelers to split their reimbursements and send money directly to travel card vendors. The eTravel initiative is one of 24 Bush administration e-government projects.
Last month, nearly one year after issuing a request for proposals, GSA contracted with two companies with long-time ties to travel management services in the federal government to provide eTravel systems. Northrop is working with the Pentagon to get its Defense Travel System up and running, and CW Government Travel has provided federal travel management services for at least 10 years. The two companies will market their systems to various agencies, which will adopt whichever system best fits their needs. Currently, GSA is testing the two systems, with plans to pilot them in a handful of agencies, and then roll them out in December. By 2006, all agencies should have one of the two systems in place.
But EDS officials claimed that one of the contract awardees was given more opportunities to demonstrate aspects of their system, giving them an unfair advantage over other bidders. They also say GSA erred when it rated Northrop Grumman's system outstanding in technical and performance categories.
"Their Defense Travel System, which they claim forms the basis of their eTravel service solution, has doubled in both cost and time to complete since it was awarded five years ago," Clarke said.
EDS wants work on the project stopped until GAO issues its decision. The watchdog agency has until Dec. 8 to rule on the protest.
On Friday, a spokeswoman for GSA said agency officials could not comment on pending legal issues, but said the agency was "complying with the rules involving protests before the GAO."