The General Services Administration has rescinded the award of a $583 million Military OneSource support services contract to review the potential impact of the winning bidder’s acquisition during the procurement process.
In July, the General Services Administration (GSA) awarded the contract to Cognosante, seemingly ending more than a decade of contracts between Military OneSource and Carelon Behavioral Health.
However, Carelon and another unsuccessful bidder, Leidos, filed a protest weeks later with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which adjudicates disputes over federal contracts. Accenture Federal Services acquired Virginia-based Cognosante in May, a key topic in the contract review.
A familiar resource to most military members and their families, Military OneSource is similar to a civilian employee assistance program and offers a wide range of information and referrals on military and civilian resources, as well as non-medical counseling services – all free of charge. Benefits and services include financial counseling, educational assistance and benefits, relocation planning, and quality of life programs. This centralized resource provides 24/7 services online, by phone, email, real-time messaging, and in-person counseling upon request to approximately 4.7 million people.
GSA conducted the contract competition for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Military Community and Family Policy Office.
Neither defense officials nor Carelon immediately provided information on how the contract withdrawal will affect service members and families who use Military OneSource. It is also unclear whether the new contract will change the benefits offered to service members and their families.
According to Edward Goldstein, GAO’s deputy general counsel for public procurement law, the GAO dismissed the protests in early August after the General Services Administration informed the agency that it was taking corrective actions to address the problems raised in the protests.
“In particular, GSA has indicated that it will evaluate the impact of Accenture Federal Services’ acquisition of Cognosante on Cognosante’s ability to perform the contract as proposed and, if necessary, re-evaluate the proposals and make a new award decision,” Goldstein said.
“As the agency reconsidered awarding the contract to Cognosante, we dismissed the protests as academic,” he said.
New protests could be filed after GSA completes its remedial actions and award decision, Goldstein added.
A press release from Accenture Federal Services describes Cognosante as a provider of “digital transformation and cloud modernization solutions for federal health, defense, intelligence and civilian agencies,” including health programs that support veterans, active military, patients, beneficiaries, providers and payers. These agencies include the Defense Health Agency, according to Cognosante’s website.
The contract to be reassessed includes a one-year base term with four one-year options.
The tasks described in the tender include program management, call center operations and support, IT operations management, childcare support, and consulting and coaching services.
In 2019, Carelon (then known as Beacon Health Options and ValueOptions) and its subsidiary ValueOptions Federal Services won the Military OneSource contract valued at over $400 million.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for over 30 years and co-authored a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Florida, and Athens, Georgia.
