The U.S. General Accountability Office sustained a protest lodged
by CW Government Travel regarding a General Services Administration
solicitation for the e-Gov Travel Service 2.0. GAO determined that GSA's
solicitation included "ambiguous" language and did not "clearly
communicate whether objectives are optional or required." Posted in August,
the request for proposals sought bidders for "an end-to-end travel management service that automates and consolidates federal travel processes in
a secure, web-based environment."
CW Government Travel (part of Carlson Wagonlit Sato Travel, which
is owned by Carlson Wagonlit Travel) is the incumbent service provider for
GSA's ETS1. In November, it protested for four reasons; GAO dismissed three of
them because they "lack merit." Those protests were that the
solicitation included "unduly restrictive" provisions regarding
required system updates and "improperly exposes" the contractor to
"excessive risk by requiring that an offeror's fixed fees include various
updates to the ETS2 system over this contract's term of up to 15 years,
including options"; and that GSA "improperly utilized Federal Acquisition Regulation
policies and procedures for the acquisition of commercial
items."
According to a statement attributed to Tim Burke, director of the Office of
Travel and Transportation Services for the GSA Federal Acquisition Service,
"GSA welcomes the opportunity to bring clarity to the solicitation process
and is working to review options in response to GAO's recommendation and
expects to complete the review in a timely manner." According to a GSA
spokeswoman, GSA is "targeting for a
summer FY11 award and announcement."
CWT had no comment.