Open SAN Consulting, LLC- dba OSC Edge ()

B-421507.2 Dec 18, 2023 Jump To FULL REPORT VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Open SAN Consulting, LLC, doing business as OSC Edge (OSC), an 8(a) small business of Atlanta, Georgia, requests that our Office recommend that it be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing its protest challenging the planned issuance of a sole-source task order to Leidos, Inc. under that firm's Defense Enclave Services (DES) contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). We grant the request. View Decision DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE The decision issued on the date below was subject to a GAO Protective Order. This version has been approved for public release. Decision Matter of: Open SAN Consulting, LLC d/b/a OSC Edge--Costs File: B-421507.2 Date: December 18, 2023 Stuart W. Turner, Esq., and Michael McGill, Esq., Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, LLP, for the protester. George E. Wise, Esq., Defense Information Systems Agency, for the agency. Charmaine A. Stevenson, Esq., and John Sorrenti, Esq., Office of the General Counsel, GAO, participated in the preparation of the decision. DIGEST Request that GAO recommend reimbursement of protest costs is granted where challenge to a proposed sole-source task order was clearly meritorious, and the agency unduly delayed taking corrective action. DECISION Open SAN Consulting, LLC, doing business as OSC Edge (OSC), an 8(a) small business of Atlanta, Georgia, requests that our Office recommend that it be reimbursed the costs of filing and pursuing its protest challenging the planned issuance of a sole-source task order to Leidos, Inc. under that firm’s Defense Enclave Services (DES) contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). We grant the request. BACKGROUND The procurement actions challenged in the protest that led to this request arose under an unusual set of circumstances. The National Defense University (NDU) is a component of the Department of Defense and operates under the control of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.[1] NDU does not have its own procurement authority or contracting staff and thus relies on other defense agencies to conduct its procurements. As relevant to the protest and this request, in January 2018, the Department of the Navy, Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP), acting as the procurement agency for NDU, awarded a contract to OSC following a competition set aside for small businesses to fulfill NDU’s enterprise information technology (IT) support services requirements. NAVSUP Contracting Officer’s Statement (COS) at 1. Under this contract, OSC has performed enterprise network support, full spectrum help desk support, enterprise cyber security, network modernization, software development, experimentation, training environment development, lessons learned, and training. See Protest, exh. A, Contract No. N0018918DZ010, Performance Work Statement at 5. The ordering period began on January 8, 2018, and as stated in the duration of contract period clause, “shall continue in effect during the period ending 60 months after date of contract unless terminated in accordance with other provisions herein. Performance under any task order may continue in effect during the period ending twelve months after the last day of the ordering period.” Id. at 3, 50. Separately, on February 28, 2022, DISA awarded the DES contract to Leidos pursuant to a request for proposals published by DISA using Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 15 procedures for full and open competition to award a single indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. Req. for Dismissal at 3; Agency Report (AR),  Tab 8, DES Contract Award Notice.[2] The DES solicitation description explained: In 2019, the Deputy Secretary of Defense designated DISA as the single service provider to optimize network capabilities for Fourth Estate[[3]] Defense Agencies and Department of Defense Field Activities (DAFAs). The DES contract will unify the Fourth Estate’s common use Information Technology (IT) systems, personnel, functions and program elements under DISA; DISA will leverage the DES contract to manage, operate and support the network architecture. DES will provide integrated, standardized and cost-effective IT services; while improving security, network availability and reliability for 22 DAFAs within the Fourth Estate. The DES effort will establish the modern infrastructure foundation and united frame of thought needed to deliver cohesive combat support capabilities to the warfighter. AR, Tab 3, DES Solicitation Description at 2. NDU was not included among the 22 DAFAs identified in the DES solicitation. AR, Tab 4, DES Solicitation at 12. On March 6, 2023, OSC filed a protest with our Office challenging DISA’s planned issuance of a task order to Leidos under its DES contract. In its protest, OSC stated that it was the current contractor providing enterprise IT services to NDU.