NIH’s $50 Billion Procurement Had ‘Self-Score’ Evaluation Flaws

The National Institutes of Health’s $50 billion IT services procurement known as Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners had multiple flaws, including the agency’s failure to validate all bidders’ proposed self-scores, the GAO said in a decision released Monday.

The Government Accountability Office announced June 29 that it sustained 98 protests filed by 64 offerors whose bids were eliminated. NIH should reevaluate proposals and make new determinations of which proposals should advance past the first phase, the GAO said in that announcement.

The solicitation said each awarded contract would have a maximum ordering value of $50 billion. The agency said it ...