$1.64B CACI defense contract paused after Accenture protest

Following a protest by Accenture Federal Services, the Government Accountability Office has paused a $1.64 billion defense contract awarded to Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor CACI International.

On Aug. 11, the Department of Defense — which President Trump recently rebranded as the Department of War by executive order, pending congressional authorization for a formal name change — announced that the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) awarded CACI an up to 10-year contract to provide technical support services for the Joint Transportation Management System (JTMS) at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. The command provides the rebranded Department of War with transport of people and cargo via air, land and sea.

National Defense magazine reported in 2024 that the JTMS aims to unify hundreds of fragmented transportation and financial systems across the department. According to the command’s website, the JTMS is a platform that integrates end-to-end transportation and financial processes for improved visibility, collaboration and auditability.

The Department of War website says that CACI was supposed to begin work on the contract on Aug. 12. However, the GAO confirmed that the contract was paused after Accenture filed its protest on Aug. 27.

The office must make a decision resolving the protest by Dec. 5.

Edward Goldstein, managing associate general counsel for procurement law with the GAO, said that when a protest is filed with the office within 10 days of the contract award, or within five days of a required debriefing, by statute, the procuring agency is required to automatically stay performance of the contract while the office resolves the protest. This is done to ensure that the protesting company can obtain relief if the protest is found to have merit.

“Here, it appears that the protest was filed in a timely manner to receive an automatic stay of contract performance,” Goldstein said in a statement. “While an agency can decide not to stay performance if it makes a finding that performance is necessary to meet an urgent and compelling need or because continuing performance would be in the best interest of the government, the agency has not done so in this case.”

Accenture argued that USTRANSCOM failed to conduct a reasonable price risk assessment in accordance with procurement regulation and the terms of the RFP. As a result, the company believes the agency overlooked the significant risks posed by CACI’s proposed pricing.

Accenture also argued that the agency failed to conduct meaningful discussions with it and unreasonably evaluated Accenture’s and CACI’s nonprice proposals.

Additionally, Accenture asserted that CACI’s team has unmitigable actual and potential organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs) stemming from its performance of a Joint Financial Operations and System Support contract for USTRANSCOM.

Finally, Accenture maintains that the command conducted a materially defective best-value tradeoff analysis, leading to an unreasonable selection decision.

Neither Accenture or CACI immediately responded to requests for comment.

A request for proposals — posted in June 2024 on Sam.gov and updated in July of that same year — says the JTMS contract involves reengineering business processes, performing data interface and integration services, implementing a single integrated system and leveraging commercial software to conduct transportation, financial and logistical operations.

Founded in 1962, CACI serves intelligence and defense agencies. It has more than 25,000 employees and reported $7.66 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue.

Accenture Federal Services is an Arlington County-based subsidiary of Fortune Global 500 firm Accenture that serves U.S. federal government clients. Accenture has a 770,000-person global workforce. The company’s fiscal 2024 revenue was $64.9 billion.