Firm withdraws protest of ID card services contract

As General Services Administration officials work out a strategy for helping other agencies meet a presidential identification card mandate, one of three protests against a contract to provide end-to-end ID services has fallen by the wayside.

Electronic Data Systems Corp. spokesman Brad Bass said in a statement that on Friday, the company withdrew its protest against BearingPoint's contract to supply ID card services to agencies signing up to use a shared service center at GSA. Last week, GSA elected not to exercise the remaining options of the five-year agreement for end-to-end identification card services.

Xtec Inc., a Miami security company, which also lodged a challenge with GAO over the BearingPoint award, did not respond to requests for comment. Lockheed Martin Corp., which filed a protest with GSA over the award, directed all questions to GSA.

A GSA spokeswoman would not comment on the status of any of the protests, but said the agency is performing a two-step requirements analysis to determine what needs to be purchased to fulfill the next stage of the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 identification card mandate. The first stage, with which BearingPoint helped, required agencies to give at least one employee a high-tech ID card by Oct. 27.

Once GSA has worked out the details of exactly what needs to be purchased next, officials will determine the method for buying it, the spokeswoman said. In addition to the requirements analysis, GSA will be putting together an acquisition plan for its HSPD 12 shared service offering, the spokeswoman said.

GSA is working to make sure the transition between the BearingPoint contract and the next contract is seamless and transparent, the spokeswoman said. Agencies contracting with GSA for HSPD 12 services will not know the difference between the two, she added.

In a statement last week, GSA announced it was going to further compete all of its HSPD 12 requirements through either a "multiple award schedule program or through open market competitions." It is still possible under a multiple award schedule strategy for GSA to select only one contractor.

GSA has identified 11 companies that could qualify to provide end-to-end identity card services compliant with the presidential directive. If GSA opts to go with the multiple award schedule strategy, state and local governments could use the contract to participate in an interoperable system for credentialing from the local level of government to the federal.

In last week's statement, GSA said the additional companies should provide "improved price competition" for the 40 agencies signed up for GSA's help in meeting the mandate.

While some agencies may believe that fulfilling the directive without the help of a shared service center has saved them money, the agencies that elect to do so are not likely to reach what GSA hopes is a lower overall price point, an agency official said.

"From a budgetary standpoint, do they have a business case to go it alone?" the official said. "I think [the Office of Management Budget] may eventually address that."

While Pentagon officials have indicated that fulfilling the HSPD 12 requirements throughout the Defense Department could take seven years, the GSA official said he expects the civilian agencies to implement the order more quickly.