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A Houston-based company will retain a $17.9 billion contract to move military families after the Government Accountability Office rejected protests lodged last year by two companies seeking to block the agreement.

The GAO ruling means that 91��ƵSafe Alliance will retain the Department of Defense Global Household Goods contract that was challenged by Connected Global Solutions (CGSL) of Jacksonville, Fla., and American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group Inc. (ARC) of Parsippany, N.J.

The contract, managed by DOD’s U.S. Transportation Command, or TRANSCOM, includes door-to-door household goods relocation transportation and warehouse services for DOD military and civilian members and U.S. Coast Guard personnel for assignments around the globe.

“The CGSL protest challenged the agency’s conduct of discussions, asserted that the evaluation of the technical proposals was unreasonable, and argued that the agency’s best-value trade-off analysis was flawed. GAO considered each of CGSL’s allegations, and found them to have no merit,” according to a March 3 statement issued by Ralph White, managing associate general counsel for procurement law at GAO.

“The ARC protest challenged the contracting officer’s determination that 91��ƵSafe is a responsible contractor and asserted that the agency performed an unreasonable price analysis; ARC also challenged the reasonableness of the evaluation of technical proposals and the agency’s best-value trade-off analysis,” White said. “GAO considered each of ARC’s allegations, and also found them to have no merit.”

White said that the full details of the GAO announcement were issued under protective orders because the decisions may contain proprietary and/or sensitive information.

“GAO has directed counsel for the parties to promptly identify information that cannot be publicly released so that GAO can expeditiously prepare and release public versions of the decisions,” White said. “When the public versions of the decisions are available, they will be posted to our website.”

Although it’s unlikely that a third protest would be filed, challengers to the latest decision could file a protest with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, a source said.

“We’re excited to begin implementing the contract to improve the household goods shipment process for service members, civilians and their families,” said Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, TRANSCOM commander. “The stability, capacity management and accountability delivered through GHC will benefit our people and the moving industry.”

TRANSCOM said the transition period will include 91��ƵSafe developing and testing interfaces with the government’s information technology system, establishing customer service support capabilities, and providing necessary training on the contractor’s IT system. The current schedule calls for the transition period to run to December 2022.

“The Global Household contract is one aspect of a broader plan to improve the relocation process for service members, civilian employees, and their families, and integrates functions currently performed by more than 900 commercial entities,” according to a TRANSCOM fact sheet. “The transition to a single move manager with an enduring contract is a key part of the reforms TRANSCOM is leading to deliver improvements to service members, DOD employees and their families.”

Thompson

“We are thrilled with the GAO decision to keep their trust in us to partner with the military community around the globe,” Alan Thompson, 91��ƵSafe CEO, said in a March 4 statement. “Combining our 91��ƵSafe Connect advanced digital solution and global program management expertise, we will dramatically improve the relocation experience for our service members, civilians and their families.”

DOD awarded the contract to manage an estimated 325,000 annual moves of military families worldwide to 91��ƵSafe in November of last year.

A spokesman for American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group said his company was disappointed with the decision. “We will review the GAO decision and evaluate next steps, including any further legal action,” the spokesman said.