General Dynamics Information Technology is challenging the Defense Information Systems Agency’s decision to expand Leidos’ $11 billion Defense Enclave Services contract to include the combatant command, arguing that the agency should have competed the new work.
GDIT filed its bid protest with the Government Accountability Office on July 10, GAO records show.
In May, Defense Department Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies directed DISA to transition all combatant commands’ common-use IT services to the Defense Department Network by the end of fiscal 2028.
DISA subsequently said that the Defense Enclave Services contract, which supports Fourth Estate network modernization efforts, is “the only viable contracting alternative” given the compressed timeline for migrating combatant commands to DoDNet by the end of fiscal 2028.
In its justification for the noncompetitive contract modification document, DISA argued that Leidos, the prime contractor for the agency’s massive Enclave program, is “uniquely qualified” to execute the combatant command migrations because of its “embedded, specialized knowledge of the DoDNet architecture.”
“Leidos possesses the crucial requisite institutional knowledge of the ‘as-built’ environment which ensures the necessary technical continuity required for DISA and the combatant commands to meet the CIO’s fiscal 2028 migration deadline,” DISA wrote.
“The DoDNet environment is highly complex, and a new vendor would face an unacceptably steep learning curve necessary to assume full technical responsibility, introducing high risks of operational disruption and further schedule slips as they would require ramp up time to onboard technical subject matter experts, after award, to gain understanding of the complexities of the DoDNet environment which, as the incumbent contractor, Leidos currently understands. This learning curve would delay network migrations beyond 2028 and jeopardize the combatant command modernization mandate, which are both intolerable operational outcomes,” the agency added.
The agency also argued that a new competition would result in a “substantial duplication of administrative and technical cost, which is not expected to be recovered through competition.”
A source familiar with the matter argued that DISA failed to consider other contracting pathways that could have achieved the DoD CIO’s migration objectives, including existing enterprise contract vehicles that already support combatant command IT operations and may have offered faster, less costly and more effective alternatives.
Plus, each combatant command operates in a unique environment, making the migration effort particularly complex. Understanding the combatant command environments — their links and dependencies to critical mission systems — is just as important, if not more so, than understanding the DoDNet environment itself, the source argued.
“It’s very different than the current scope of the Defense Enclave contract, which is really about these back office sort of administrative functions, it’s just fundamentally different,” the source told Federal News Network.
DISA also pointed to Leidos’ migration of more than 40,000 users to DoDNet as evidence of the company’s qualifications to perform the work, but that number is significantly lower than the original DES solicitation’s requirement to support the migration and sustainment of at least 370,000 users.
Leidos said it remains “focused on helping DISA modernize and secure the Department of Defense’s information environment.”
“We have migrated more than 40,000 users to the DoDNet environment since 2022 and believe our in-depth experience with the architecture, migration processes and technical baseline will allow us to transition combatant commands effectively and rapidly. We will continue working alongside DISA to support the agency’s operations and enhance mission readiness,” Elizabeth Torres, external communications manager at Leidos, told Federal News Network.
DISA said the work would not increase the contract’s ceiling value or established labor rates. The agency did not conduct market research before expanding the contract and instead received a waiver from the head of the contracting activity.
GAO is expected to issue a decision by Oct. 19.
In 2022, after DISA awarded the Enclave contract to Leidos, GDIT — the only other vendor that reached the final round — filed a bid protest with GAO challenging the agency’s conduct of discussions, as well as its technical, price and past performance evaluations. GAO ultimately denied the protest.
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