GAO rules in favor of CSAR-X protesters

The Government Accountability Office on Thursday sided with Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky in a second round of bid protests against the Air Force’s decision to choose a Boeing helicopter for one of its high-priority programs.

The GAO ruling — which calls for an evaluation of revised proposals — comes after months of heated controversy and increased congressional scrutiny over the Air Force’s decision to choose Boeing’s CH- 47 Chinook as its new combat search-and-rescue helicopter. The GAO recommends that the Air Force terminate its contract with Boeing if the ensuing evaluation concludes that Boeing’s helicopter is no longer the most cost-effective solution.

{mosads}The Air Force, which must urgently replace its aging HH-60 Pave Hawk combat search-and-rescue helicopter fleet, awarded Boeing a contract last November to provide its Chinook helicopter as the new search-and-rescue chopper.

The other two competitors, a Lockheed Martin-AgustaWestland team and Sikorsky, immediately filed protests with the GAO, which in turn upheld the protests and recommended that the Air Force reopen the competition for the $15 billion program. The GAO zeroed in on the single issue of operations and support over the lifespan of the Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR-X) program and did not address several of the other issues raised by Sikorsky and Lockheed.

As a result, the Air Force amended its solicitation and asked for more detailed information on lifecycle costs, but both Lockheed and Sikorsky filed new protests with the GAO, alleging that the Air Force failed to adhere to the guidance of the initial GAO decisions.

The GAO decided to sustain the two defense companies’ protests, arguing that the Air Force precluded the bidders from generally revising their proposals even though it had to change its solicitation evaluation scheme based on GAO’s previous ruling.

“Offerors must be given a reasonable opportunity to respond to the revised evaluation scheme,” the GAO said.

The GAO also recommended that the Air Force permit the bidders to revise both the cost and non-cost aspects of their proposals in response to the new evaluation scheme. If the evaluation of revised proposals determines that Boeing’s proposal no longer represents the best value to the government, the agency should terminate its contract, the GAO said.

The GAO also recommended that the Air Force reimburse Lockheed and Sikorsky for the costs of filing and pursuing their protests, including reasonable attorneys’ fees.

“We are extremely disappointed that the GAO has sustained the latest competitor protests,” Boeing said in a statement. “We believe that the Air Force acted in good faith in response to the original GAO recommendation on the first protests and this decision will once again delay putting this lifesaving equipment in the hands of our warfighters.”

Meanwhile, House appropriators are directing the Air Force to detail its source-selection criteria for the CSAR-X program and are asking how the criteria were established. In the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill, lawmakers wrote that the appropriations committee “is concerned about the selection criteria and process by which this program has proceeded to source selection.”

The Air Force report must outline the significant factors in the request for proposal (RFP) that determined the source selection, their importance, and how each of the respondents to the RFP was rated against the factors. The Air Force has until Sept. 15 to deliver the report.

The Air Force has been under substantial pressure from Congress after it picked Boeing’s larger Chinook. Lockheed Martin partnered with the AgustaWestland offer of the US101, while Sikorsky offered the S-92. Both are considered medium-lift helicopters.