Decision on Bid Protest by DynCorp International Regarding U.S. Army Contracts in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 15, 2010)—The following is a statement by Ralph O. White, GAO’s acting managing associate general counsel for procurement law, regarding the bid protest decision resolving DynCorp’s allegation that U.S. Army’s proposed task orders for mentoring, training and logistics support for the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and the Afghan National Police are outside the scope of the underlying multiple-awards contracts the Army is using to procure these services. The protest is captioned Dyncorp International LLC, B-402349, March 15, 2010.

“Today, our Office sustained, or upheld, the protest filed by DynCorp challenging the use of task orders under existing multiple-award contracts to procure mentoring, training and logistics support for the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and Afghan National Police. Our review of the underlying Army multiple-award contracts, and the task order solicitations challenged by DynCorp, led us to conclude that the task order solicitations are outside the scope of the existing contracts. We reviewed the underlying multiple-award contracts, which were issued to provide the necessary goods and services required by the Department of Defense’s Counter Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office. The stated purpose of these contracts is that they were issued to provide worldwide support for technology development, training and other analyses related specifically to counter-narcoterrorism efforts.

In contrast, the first of the two task order solicitations seeks to provide comprehensive levels of assistance to the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and the Afghan National Police in providing a trained and professional police presence throughout the country, including efforts to enhance public security The second task order solicitation seeks to provide logistics support—including operating dining halls, maintaining vehicle fleets, and otherwise providing operations support to 15 named Camps located throughout Afghanistan. In our view, the underlying multiple award contracts did not contemplate providing the services requested by these task order solicitations, as these services are significantly broader than the counter-narcoterrorism efforts anticipated by the underlying contracts.

We recognize the Army’s position that it needs to swiftly award a contract for these services. In sustaining DynCorp’s protest, we recommended that the Army cancel the task order solicitations and either conduct a full and open competition, or prepare the appropriate justification required by the Competition in Contracting Act to limit competition.”

To read the full decision go to: http://www.gao.gov/decisions/bidpro/402349.htm.

Information about GAO’s bid protest process can be found at www.gao.gov. For further information please contact Chuck Young in GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at 202-512-4800.