CIO-SP4 Protests are Approaching a Resolution Soon
5/26/23
You can’t have an omelet without breaking a few eggs, and similarly you can’t have a big vehicle without a few (or in this case many) protests. It appears that comprehensive hearings are coming soon for the objections raised by over 130 protestors concerning the $50 billion CIO-SP4 IT solutions contract. A few protests have already been resolved and dismissed, albeit due to administrative matters. Two dismissals were a result of filing the protests after the specified deadline, while others were dismissed as the protestors failed to respond to the agency report submitted as part of the protest process. 
The remaining cases are expected to undergo thorough evaluation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), with decisions anticipated to be issued throughout the summer. The GAO’s protest docket reveals that decision due dates range from late June to late August.
Every objection raised against the small business component of CIO-SP4 centers around the score that bidders must achieve in their self-scoring evaluations. The protestors argue that this threshold has been established without a reasonable basis. To address these concerns, the IT Acquisition and Assessment Center of the National Institutes of Health has undertaken at least two corrective actions. However, these measures have failed to persuade the protestors. Another complaint is that the contract exhibits an unfair preference for small business joint ventures (JVs) over singular small businesses.
GAO has the flexibility to categorize protests based on the raised issues or the filing dates, given the 100-day deadline for reaching a decision after a protest is filed. To allow more time for addressing the protests, the National Institutes of Health’s IT Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) extended the duration of the current CIO-SP3 contract by six months, resulting in a new expiration date of October 29th.
If the protests are decided against NITAAC, they will need to revise the CIO-SP4 solicitation and request new proposals, which may require another extension of the CIO-SP3 contract. As mentioned above the decisions will start to be handed out in late June, so we’ll get a clearer idea of how things are proceeding then.
To keep track of updates on CIO-SP3, CIO-SP4, and associated award data, get started with a 5-day trial of EZGovOpps.
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