Government Accountability Office Building (Photo: Flickr/kafka4prez)The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa. | |
Concurrent Technologies Corp. may be losing its longest-held contract — but it won’t do so without a fight.
CTC officials confirmed Thursday they have decided to file a formal “protest” with the U.S. Government Accountability Office — a move that launches a 100-day review process, CTC Marketing Director Mary Bevan said.
The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Government Accountability Office was formed in 1921 to serve as a congressional spending watchdog.
But the auditing institution also serves as a third-party arbitrator for disputes tied to federal government contract bids and awards, said Kenneth Patton, an attorney for the agency’s Office of General Counsel, which handles protest reviews.
CTC’s protest involves a $ 99 million contract through the Navy Metalworking Center, Bevan said. It’s a U.S. Navy contract CTC has held for 29 years, but has now been awarded to a South Carolina company, Advanced Technology International, according to a U.S. Department of Defense contract.
Bevan said CTC decided to file a protest after a contract debriefing with the Navy in recent weeks.
“Subsequent to the debriefing, we believed that there were a number of significant and substantial reasons to file a protest,” Bevan said. “Therefore, CTC, through its attorneys, filed a protest.”
Patton said once protests are received by his office, a notice is sent to the agency concerned — in this case, the Navy. That agency must file a report detailing factors used to evaluate the contract proposals, including a contracting officer’s statement on why the decision was made to award the pact to the current winner.
A legal memorandum will also be requested to lay out why they think their award decision is valid, he said.
Documents would also need to be provided related to offers from both the award winner and protesting company, in this case CTC.
After all of that is filed, CTC would be given 10 days to comment on the Navy’s report and argue why the military agency erred in its decision.
The Government Accountability Office’s legal team would review it all — and could request briefs or a hearing — before issuing a written opinion, Patton said.
In the end, the agency has 100 calendar days from the protest’s filing date to issue that opinion, he said.
Bevan said CTC officials could not offer further details related to their contract protest at this point.
CTC President and CEO Edward Sheehan Jr. said in February that much of the work related to the contract has involved research and development testing, as needed, by the Navy agency.
Bevan said CTC, which employs approximately 800 people, is continuing to finish up work tied to its expiring contract.
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