GDIT, which is the incumbent contractor for veterans’ personnel records and benefits claim records management and file conversation services, argued that the VA improperly awarded a task order to GovCIO, according to bid protest documents.

According to the documents, GDIT argued the agency should not have made the award because although GovCIO was charging a lower price, its proposal had a lower technical rating.

GAO sustained GDIT’s bid protests filed over the VA’s approach to evaluating GovCIO’s past performance and price. However, the audit agency denied GDIT’s arguments that the VA’s evaluation of GDIT’s proposal was flawed, and that the agency failed to adequately document the award process.

“We conclude that the VA’s evaluation of GovCIO’s proposal was unreasonable with regard to the past performance and technical factors. We also conclude that the agency’s award decision was unreasonable because it relied on the flawed evaluation of GovCIO’s proposal under the past performance and technical factors,” the GAO said in its decision.

“We further find that GDIT was prejudiced by these errors because the protester’s proposal was more highly rated than the GovCIO’s proposal under the more heavily-weighted non-price factors, and because the flawed evaluation supported the agency’s decision to award the task order to GovCIO based on its lower-priced, lower technically rated proposal,” the GAO added.

The GAO recommended that the VA reevaluate GovCIO’s proposal and make a new award decision that ensures a fair comparison of GDIT and GovCIO’s proposals based on the solicitation’s award criteria. 

GAO also recommended that the VA reimburse the GDIT’s reasonable costs associated with filing and pursuing the protest including attorneys’ fees.

The VA originally issued the solicitation in September 2022, seeking proposals to provide file conversion services for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) as part of its efforts to improve the veterans benefits and claim processes. 

The VA received proposals from two offerors, GDIT and GovCIO, and the agency’s technical evaluation panel (TEP) for this procurement evaluated that GDIT’s proposal had a stronger technical factor, ranked as “good”, than GovCIO’s which was ranked as “satisfactory.” However, GovCIO was charging $241.5 million in their award proposal compared with GDIT’s $399.6 million. 

The VA awarded the task order to GovCIO in November 2022, because the source selection authority (SSA) said there were “no significant advantages or disadvantages between the offers to justify the payment of the price difference associated with GDIT’s offer, given the level of technical competence available at GCIO’s lower price.”

GDIT and GovCIO declined to comment on the matter.

The post GAO sustains protest of $242M file conversion contract award to GovCIO appeared first on FedScoop.

At issue: The users and devices operating at the tactical edge of military, government and public safety networks, by their nature, change constantly.

Sharing intelligence in those situations — often when every minute counts — demands having the ability to manage information access privileges in real time at the edge, according to a new report released by GDIT.

“The reason ICAM is important to the CIOs of the world — and why it’s different from just identity and access management — is that we’re adding the vital element of other types of credentialing,” argues Dr. John Sahlin, director of cyber solutions of GDIT. That includes taking into account telemetry information. “And the only way you can do that is by establishing a dynamic security posture,” he explains.

Sahlin highlights the distinctive requirements of enterprise ICAM solutions at government agencies. That has taken on increased urgency as agencies establish broader zero-trust security architecture.

However, Sahlin also urges agency CIOs to think more tactically, to ensure that ICAM governance policies and controls agencies are appropriate for rapidly unfolding circumstances in the field where secure access to information remains critical.

“The difference between ICAM at the edge compared to enterprise ICAM is that it allows regionally specific policy decision-making, policy enforcement points, credentialing and access management decisions at a local level that may not make sense at the enterprise level,” Sahlin explained. “You don’t want to wait to have to go through all the enterprise procedures to make those things happen.”

The report recommends ways agency CIOs can establish a better balance between enterprise ICAM and ICAM-at-the-edge solutions. It also discusses ways GDIT is helping federal agencies create planning models to better “harmonize” disparate ICAM solutions.

Read more about optimizing ICAM solutions and how GDIT is supporting those efforts at defense and civilian agencies.

This article was produced for FedScoop by Scoop News Group and sponsored by GDIT.

The post Why ICAM at the edge is critical to enabling mission success appeared first on FedScoop.

While GDIT is mostly known for its work in the aerospace and defense sectors, the five-year blanket purchase agreement covers cybersecurity and digital services for the U.S. Courts’ Case Management Systems Office.

The Cybersecurity Executive Order issued in May 2021 has many agencies prioritizing DevSecOps, and AOUSC is no exception — ensuring GDIT implements the approach even as it accelerates the agency’s software delivery.

“We have supported AOUSC with advanced technology capabilities and services for more than 25 years, and this contract gives us another opportunity to further advance its mission,” said John Ludecke, vice president and general manager of GDIT’s Federal Civilian Division, in the announcement.

In July, GDIT hired Robert Morse as a senior solutions architect within its federal judiciary business. He is a 30-year veteran of the federal government and held senior leadership roles within the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

That month also, the Government Accountability Office published a report in which it found that AOUSC’s IT staff lack cybersecurity skills. The report further criticized the agency for lacking a chief information officer and failing to give the role enterprise-wide authority.

The post Administrative Office of US Courts awards $298M app development contract to GDIT appeared first on FedScoop.

Morse has over 30 years of experience in the federal government IT organizations in the executive and judicial branches, including most recently as the director of the Office of IT Services at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Prior to NIH, Morse for 15 years held multiple senior leadership roles at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, including serving as the executive in charge of the federal judiciary’s cloud computing program. 

“Bob has extensive expertise developing innovative software products, applications and service offerings for various federal agencies,” said John Ludecke, vice president and general manager, Federal Civilian Agencies at GDIT. “His technical and business management skills will be critical in providing better, faster and more efficient IT services to the judiciary.”

Morse began his career as an active-duty officer in the U.S. Navy in the nuclear power program and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from the University of Maine. 

His appointment follows that of former federal cyber leader Matt Hayden, who joined the company in May as a vice president of cyber client engagement. He has over 20 years’ experience in cyber technology and policy and was previously assistant secretary for cyber, infrastructure, risk and resilience policy at the Department of Homeland Security.

The post GDIT hires Robert Morse to beef up federal judiciary IT team  appeared first on FedScoop.

General Dynamics, in a July 18 release, said the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity Europe-Wide Information Technology and Enterprise Network (EITEN) award has a five-year base period and three-year option and will support IT and network systems operated by Air Forces in Europe.

Individual task orders will focus on modernizing and supporting existing infrastructure, networks, systems, operations and maintenance, cybersecurity and managing new requirements across Europe including Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Turkey, to name a few.

“This contract will equip airmen across Europe with the knowledge, tools and data they need to mobilize and operate at any place and any time,” said Brian Sheridan, senior vice president for GDIT’s Defense Division. “Consolidating multiple mission-critical services under a single contract will also allow for greater speed, flexibility and accessibility of IT services needed across the region.”

GDIT scored the single award contract from the 764^th Enterprise Sourcing Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

The post GDIT scores $908M IT contract in Europe appeared first on FedScoop.

GAO’s decision date was Wednesday, according to the watchdog.

In February, DISA issued a contract award worth up to $11.5 billion to Leidos for Defense Enclave Services, an effort to consolidate the networks of the department’s non-warfighting support agencies known as the “Fourth Estate.” 

However, on March 10 General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office.

“GDIT challenges DISA’s conduct of discussions, technical evaluation, price evaluation, past performance evaluation, and the resulting tradeoff decision,” according to a source familiar with the protest who requested anonymity to discuss the situation.

GAO’s decision was expected no later than June 20. The protest is covered by a protective order, and the watchdog has not yet released a final redacted version of the decision.

Defense Enclave Services is a high priority for the Pentagon.

Under the indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, which has a potential 10-year period of performance with a base ordering period that runs through February 2026 and three optional two-year periods to extend, Leidos was tasked to lead the Fourth Estate Network Optimization (4ENO) initiative — an effort to move 22 agencies and field activities to a single platform.

The new platform, called DoDNET, will house common IT elements like personnel, contracting and communications systems. Leidos was chosen to lead the management and operation of the greater network architecture and to be responsible for helping the agencies optimize their IT portfolios in the move over to the single platform.

“We are pleased the Government Accountability Office has affirmed the Defense Information Systems Agency’s award,” Gerry Fasano, Leidos Defense Group President, said in a statement. “Leidos is deeply committed to DISA’s critical mission, and never stopped preparing for the program’s success. Our robust and continuous preparation has positioned us to start delivering benefits to the user base on or ahead of current planned schedule, and we look forward to leveraging our decades of technological expertise to support mission success.”

GDIT and DISA declined to comment on the decision.

The post GAO denies GDIT’s protest of $11B Defense Enclave Services contract award appeared first on FedScoop.

According to the study, 49% of respondents felt their department was likely to meet all requirements on time, while 14% expected to meet the zero trust requirements ahead of schedule.

GDIT found also that 21% of federal IT leaders surveyed felt their agency would meet the majority of requirements on time, but not all. Of staff canvassed, 8% thought their department would meet some requirements on time, but not the majority.

The federal contractor surveyed 300 prequalified federal mission and IT decision-makers, of which 40% worked at defense agencies and 60% worked at federal civilian agencies.

The findings come ahead of the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s executive order 14028 on improving the nation’s cybersecurity. The EO mandated each federal agency within 60 days to develop plans to implement zero-trust architectures and prioritize the adoption of cloud technology.

According to the survey, 30% of survey respondents felt that OMB’s federal zero trust strategy guidance was most helpful for policy implementation. This compared with 24% who felt NIST’s 800-207 zero trust documentation was most helpful, and 23% who felt that the Department of Defense’s zero-trust reference architecture, published in February 2021, was most helpful.

Federal agencies continue to work to implement the guidance and meet the requirements set out by the May cybersecurity order.

GDIT found also that 58% of respondents felt that rebuilding or replacing existing legacy infrastructure was one of the primary challenges to implementing zero trust. According to the survey, 48% also thought that their agencies lack sufficient IT staff expertise.

Speaking at a FedScoop event last month, Department of Agriculture CISO Ja’Nelle Devore said that ensuring IT staff receive sufficient training to use the latest security tools was a key challenge facing departments as they race to comply with zero trust requirements.

“We have enough people, the issue is training,” she said. “When you have several tools that will be part of your zero trust utilization, you have to re-integrate how they work.” 

The post Half of federal agencies expected to meet all zero trust requirements by 2024 deadline: GDIT appeared first on FedScoop.

Hayden has over 20 years’ experience in cyber technology and policy and was previously assistant secretary for cyber, infrastructure, risk and resilience policy at the Department of Homeland Security.

In his new private-sector position, he will be responsible for building relationships with GDIT’s industry partners and key cyber leaders within government.

Previously, he was a senior adviser to the director of CISA and was also deputy assistant secretary within the Private Sector Office at DHS.

Hayden has also held a number of roles within the private sector, including at risk and compliance company Exiger, and was a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University.

Commenting on his appointment, Hayden said: “As federal agencies adopt zero trust strategies and harden their cyber defenses, GDIT is focused on supporting customers with innovative solutions.” He added: “I am looking forward to working alongside other GDIT cyber experts to help solve our customers’ mission-critical challenges.”

The post Former DHS cyber leader Matt Hayden joins GDIT appeared first on FedScoop.

The contract, which has a one-year base plus six one-year option periods, is for managed application, infrastructure, networking, enterprise and security services.

As part of the task order, GDIT will develop and operate the agency’s enterprise IT infrastructure and application platforms. This includes cloud computing, application platform management, enterprise network and security operations, enterprise identity access management and cybersecurity.

Commenting on the award, GDIT President Amy Gilliland said: “GDIT will partner with the EPA to deliver a reliable, secure and technologically advanced IT infrastructure that will support agency initiatives fundamental to protecting human health and the environment.”

The latest managed services contract comes as the EPA continues work to modernize IT infrastructure and telecommunications across the agency.

Late last year, the department said it intended to resubmit disconnection orders for 268 services rendered unnecessary by the GSA’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract.

EPA‘s Office of Inspector General at the time found services like analog phone and digital subscriber lines still weren’t disconnected as of May 2021, and eight disconnection orders took between one and 61 months to complete — costing the agency $7,850.

The post EPA awards $661.6M digital modernization and managed services contract to GDIT appeared first on FedScoop.

The new tool is intended to help staff identify whether a patient’s skin lesion may be cancerous without patients needing to return for a second appointment. Veterans in rural areas across the U.S. often have to drive up to 90 miles for each medical appointment.

According to the VA, the skin lesion diagnostic procedure is often delayed by poor-quality images at the point of capture by primary care providers. These images require veterans to return for additional appointments, which introduces a delay between first consultation and diagnosis. Such delays have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent decline in in-person visits.

“[I]f they come back for another image, that’s fantastic. If they don’t come back, that is someone slipping through the cracks,” said Dr. Trilokraj Tejasvi, associate professor at the University of Michigan Health and chief of dermatology at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

The AI tool, which is being developed with GDIT, is an image classifier that uses deep learning artificial intelligence models to sort images of skin lesions into seven common categories and recommend immediate follow-up care for those known to be malignant. 

The technology uses a front-end filter, built using the Laplacian Variance package in the OpenCV computer vision toolkit to measure blur, and the Gamma measurement from the scikit-image Python package.

The filter is designed to notify primary care staff when skin lesion images are not of sufficient quality to be diagnostically useful and must be retaken.

This is intended to remedy delays caused by poor quality images not detected at the point of capture, which can impede treatment by forcing veterans to return to medical centers to have more images taken, often introducing a delay in diagnosis.

Soft-testing phase

The new platform is currently conducting initial trials of the technology in a soft testing phase led by Dr. Tejasvi and GDIT Vice President of AI and Data Insights Dave Vennergrund. The team will next seek approval to conduct clinical trials at the VA’s Ann Arbor hospital.

Speaking with FedScoop, Vennergrund said that the next step for the team was to increase the volume of data processed by the AI platform to ensure it captures as many unrepresented disease types as possible, including those from patients with less common skin tones.

He added that the team has ambitious targets for using the platform to cut steps out of the diagnostic process: “Imagine you could have a telehealth application that a patient could use and hold, and they could take a picture with their phone. This would then go through a workflow and if it was concerning it would set up an instant appointment through some scheduling mechanism to have the patient seen.”

Early recognition of potentially malignant lesions is important because complete excision will cure almost all cases of skin cancer if performed in the early stages.

A review of nine prior studies, published in 2018 by the American Academy of Dermatology, found that both active duty service members and veterans have an increased risk of developing skin cancer, including melanoma, which is the deadliest form of skin cancer. Military personnel are often exposed to high levels of ultraviolet radiation, which can increase the risk of developing both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer.

In developing the platform, VA and GDIT applied transfer learning techniques to a number of open-source, pre-trained deep learning models.

The tool was awarded third place in the VA’s National AI Tech Sprint 2020-2021 competition, which was organized by the VA to help private sector companies work to find solutions for AI-based solutions to medical problems facing veterans.

The post Department of Veterans Affairs soft-testing AI tool to speed skin cancer diagnosis  appeared first on FedScoop.