Marriage Didn’t Cause Conflict in $195 Million Navy Contract

McKean Defense Group LLC will perform a $195 million support services contract for the Naval Information Warfare Systems Center Pacific Network Integration Engineering Facility despite a protest alleging a conflict of interest, the GAO said in a decision released Monday.

KOAM Engineering Systems Inc. argued that McKean gained an unfair competitive advantage because its senior systems engineer was married to an agency contracting officer’s representative on KOAM’s incumbent contract. KOAM said the marriage created an irrefutable presumption of impropriety.

The contracting officer’s representative had access to KOAM’s financial data, but the Navy reasonably concluded that she wasn’t involved in any ...