IBM Corporation

B-415798 Mar 27, 2018 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights IBM Corporation, of Reston, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Accenture Federal Services, LLC, of Arlington, Virginia, by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), under task order request for proposals (TORP) No. HSTS02-17-R-OIA053, issued under DHS's Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions (EAGLE) II indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, to acquire a full range of information technology (IT) services to support the TSA Secure Flight system. IBM, the incumbent contractor, alleges that TSA misevaluated the proposals and failed to undertake a reasonable investigation of an alleged violation of the Procurement Integrity Act. We deny the protest in part, and dismiss the procurement integrity allegations as premature. We deny the protest in part, and dismiss the procurement integrity allegations as premature. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This redacted version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of:  IBM Corporation File:  B-415798 Date:  March 27, 2018 David W. Burgett, Esq., Michael D. McGill, Esq., Brendan M. Lill, Esq., Nicole D. Picard, Esq., and Adilene Rosales, Esq., Hogan Lovells US LLP, for the protester. Amy Laderberg O’Sullivan, Esq., Olivia L. Lynch, Esq., and Elizabeth Buehler, Esq., Crowell & Moring LLP, for Accenture Federal Services, LLC, the intervenor. Christopher J. Reames, Esq., Angela Varner, Esq., and Michael Kiffney, Esq., Department of Homeland Security, for the agency. Eric M. Ransom, Esq., and Edward Goldstein, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST 1.  Protest challenging the agency’s evaluation of proposals is denied where the evaluation was reasonable and consistent with the solicitation’s evaluation criteria. 2.  Protest that the agency has failed to adequately pursue the investigation of an alleged violation of the procurement integrity provisions of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act, 41 U.S.C. §§ 2101-07, is premature where the agency has promptly initiated an investigation and that investigation is ongoing. DECISION IBM Corporation, of Reston, Virginia, protests the issuance of a task order to Accenture Federal Services, LLC, of Arlington, Virginia, by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), under task order request for proposals (TORP) No. HSTS02-17-R-OIA053, issued under DHS’s Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions (EAGLE) II indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, to acquire a full range of information technology (IT) services to support the TSA Secure Flight system.  IBM, the incumbent contractor, alleges that TSA misevaluated the proposals and failed to undertake a reasonable investigation of an alleged violation of the Procurement Integrity Act. We deny the protest in part, and dismiss the procurement integrity allegations as premature. BACKGROUND TSA’s secure flight program is a risk-based passenger prescreening program that enhances aviation security by identifying low-risk and high-risk passengers.  Agency Report (AR), Tab 2, Statement of Objectives (SOO), at 76.  The secure flight program automates comparison of passenger data, provides vetting results to aircraft operators and, as necessary, refers information to intelligence analysts or law enforcement personnel for further analysis or action.  Id. at 78.  The purpose of this procurement is to obtain IT services to support five overarching goals for the program:  sustain mission-critical secure flight operations, deliver new features and capabilities, evolve the secure flight architecture/platform, transition from a waterfall to iterative/Agile methodology,[1] and build and sustain a team of qualified, high-performing personnel.  Id.