The Navy’s Pacific Naval Facilities Engineering Command has stopped all movement on the lucrative Base Operations Support contract which was awarded to DZSP 21 LLC in December. This means the Navy must extend its contract with Raytheon Technical Services (Guam) through fiscal 2005 while it sorts out what happens.

Don Rochon public affairs officer for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific said in a (date?) release “Subsequent to the filing of the contract award protests by VT Griffin Services AECOM-Shaw Associates LLC and Pacific American Support Services LLC the Navy determined that the source selection decision we made was deficient in some respects and notified the Government Accountability Office that we would take corrective action on the matter.”

Rochon said that it was the GAO’s practice to dismiss a protest when an agency of the federal government undertook corrective action. “The corrective action involves a re-evaluation by the Navy of all the proposals submitted and with it a new contract selection decision will be made.”

The Navy would not comment about the nature of the deficiency but did say that the start date of the new BOS contract would be postponed.

“The transition to a new BOS contract is expected to commence no sooner than July 1 with full performance commencing on Oct. 1 2005 ” Rochon said.

Larry J. Ames president and chief executive officer of Defense Support Services a subsidiary company of Day & Zimmerman — the lead company in the joint venture DZSP 21 — which also consists of Parsons Infrastructure and Technology Group Inc. and SKE Support Services Inc. told the Journal “In order to continue Base Operations Services on Guam the Navy is currently planning to exercise an option for a six-month extension to the Raytheon Technical Services Guam contract which would run from April 1 through Sept. 30 2005.

“It has certainly slowed things down. Government regulations are very complete regarding this process. Over the years those regulations try to protect proprietary information. We remain hopeful.”

DZSP 21 received word on Dec. 20 from the Naval Facilities Pacific Engineering Command that it would be awarded a $34.1 million base-period contract for BOS services for Naval Activities Guam. The contract has a total estimated value of $423.45 million over the 10-year contract period.

Phil Rood head of public relations for the VT Group whose subsidiary VT Griffin Services of Atlanta Ga. was one of the three companies that filed protests told the Journal ”We have been informed that the Navy is to re-evaluate its decision on the award of the BOS contract in Guam. We await with interest the outcome of this review but do not expect to hear anything for several months.” He declined to disclose why VT Griffin filed a protest.

Kellogg Brown & Root which with CH2M Hill Inc. formed Pacific American Support Services LLC also filed a protest. Jennifer W. Dellinger public relations associate for KBR told the Journal “KBR the Navy and Guam have a relationship that spans decades. Our most recent work providing typhoon recovery and security upgrades in Guam has demonstrated our distinct capabilities as a premier service provider. Over the past two years KBR has established itself as a good corporate citizen in Guam and a supporter of local small business and we look forward to continuing this relationship in the future.”

The third company to file a protest AECOM-Shaw Associates from Fort Worth Texas did not comment on the Navy’s decision to re-evaluate the process. MBJ