GSA to take second look at $582M military family support award

Leidos was quick to file a protest objecting to the pick after a Cognosante proposal won a $582.8 million to support military families.

But Leidos' about the evaluation of its technical proposal did not resonate with the General Services Administration. Neither did Leidos' claim that Cognosante’s proposal should have been rejected and that past performance was not properly evaluated.

But it seems Leidos’ complaint that GSA did not fully consider the impact of Accenture Federal’s acquisition of Cognosante in May did strike a chord.

GSA has pulled back the OneSource award to Cognosante/Accenture Federal so the agency can look at what the acquisition may mean. If necessary, the agency will re-evaluate proposals and then issue a new award.

Proposals for the contract were due in October, seven months before Accenture Federal acquired Cognosante.

As that is taking place, Carelon Health Federal has filed a fresh protest of its own that objects to how GSA is conducting the procurement.

The claims there include how oral presentations were evaluated, a failure to conduct meaningful discussions, the evaluation of Cognosante’s proposal and the evaluation of Carelon’s technical proposal.

Carelon Health Federal filed its protest Aug. 5 and a Government Accountability Office decision is expected by Nov. 13.

The OneSource program connects service members and their families to resources on handling military life. GSA runs the contract for the Defense Department.

OneSource provides 4.7 million people access to information, resources and counseling support through the internet, telephone, email, artificial intelligence chatbots and other communication channels.

Some of the new contract's task areas will include program management, call center operations and support, information technology operations management, counseling, coaching, and strategic outreach.