CIO-SP3 Small Business (SB), one of the vehicles in the CIO-SP3 program, was created to provide custom information technology (IT) solutions and services for five different socio-economic set-asides. This vehicle has been relatively successful since its original awarding in 2012, with a number of small businesses outgrowing their SB status while providing CIO-SP3 services.
Unfortunately, there have been some snags in the latest on-ramp. Biswas Information Technology Solutions, Chags Health Information Technology, ESAC Inc., Trillion Technology Solutions, and Shivoy Inc. all filed protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), however only Chags was successful in being reconsidered.
Chags provided a password to NIH, however there was an internal communication issue and NIH claimed they couldn’t evaluate the proposal because they did not realize they had the password. Per the GAO, even if Chags didn’t deliver the password, the only reason the financials were being considered was to confirm they were a responsible contractor, so this should not have stopped the agency from assessing the proposal. So, per the GAO, NIH will be re-evaluating Chag’s proposal.
Further, Biswas Information Technology Solutions, not content with the GAO’s assessment, has filed a claim with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims… so that will need to go through due process. Fortunately for previously awarded contractors the protests only affect newly on-ramped companies, so they will have less competition to worry about for a little while longer.
To read more about CIOSP3 SB and associated awards, please visit this link if you are an EZGovOpps subscriber (you must be signed in), or sign up for a free trial today.