GAO declines to review protest of massive TSA human resources contract
Watchdog says FAA’s acquisition dispute resolution office has jurisdiction over the issue.
The Government Accountability Office has dismissed a recent protest by Avue Technologies over the Transportation Security Administration's multibillion-dollar award for human resources management, saying it does not have jurisdiction over the contract.
When TSA was created in 2001, the agency was exempted from the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and instead followed the same acquisition procedures as the Federal Aviation Administration. Under this system, protests of TSA awards were subject to review by FAA's Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition.
In December 2007, Congress reversed TSA's exemption to the FAR, making the agency subject to those regulations -- and the GAO protest process -- as of June 26, 2008. TSA and GAO have interpreted that to mean procurements initiated prior to June 26 still would be subject to FAA's contracting rules and its protest review office.
Avue, a Tacoma, Wash.-based IT company, already had filed a protest with FAA over the award, prior to its GAO protest being dismissed. Avue, one of three bidders on the controversial $1.2 billion contract for the development and management of TSA's human resources operations, argued that the award to Lockheed Martin Corp. violated procurement regulations.
Among other charges, Avue stated that TSA failed to consider that both losing bidders are certified as private sector shared-service centers under the federal HR line of business framework -- a key Bush administration initiative. The company also took issue with TSA's post-award expansion of the contract to allow the Homeland Security Department's headquarters to use the HR services that Lockheed will provide. This expansion raises the contract ceiling to a possible $3 billion price tag.
In a statement, Avue Co-Chief Executive Officer Linda Rix blamed TSA stonewalling for GAO's decision to dismiss the protest. Rix said TSA refused to disclose how or when the expansion on the contract was included, making it impossible for GAO to determine if the add-on occurred after the June 26 cut-off date.
"TSA's only defense of its award to Lockheed has been to bury the entire procurement under a 'procurement-sensitive' cloaking device that prohibits proper prosecution of the protest," Rix said.
A GAO spokesman said the decision to dismiss the protest was based simply on jurisdictional consideration, not on a lack of information from TSA. A spokeswoman from TSA said it would not be appropriate for the agency to comment on the protest.
Rix said the protest would "continue in full force" under the applicable FAA procedures and all other possible avenues.
"We are confident that despite TSA's continuing stonewall strategy, the actual facts of this troubled procurement will emerge, whether through the protest process, congressional oversight, or inquiry by investigative authorities," Rix said.
A spokeswoman for ODRA said the office does not comment on pending cases, but confirmed that Avue's protest is pending and that the average adjudication time for bid protests is 62 days.