Bundling OK If Cost Savings Are Proven, GAO Says The Government Accountability Office has given a green light to bundled base operations support contracts, as long as the buying agency can show significant cost savings or improvement in efficiency. (That’s the new name of the General Accounting Office.) GAO denied a protest against a bundled BOS contract at Keesler Air Force Base, MS, that was used in a competitive sourcing study. A grounds maintenance contractor, Teximara Inc., had protested that it was shut out of the bidding when grounds maintenance was combined with eight other functions in a single contract. GAO said the Air Force compiled an 80-page analysis to show that consolidating the contract would be more efficient and less expensive because employees and equipment could perform tasks in more than one service area, such as working on both grounds maintenance and site maintenance. Although the amount of the projected savings was not disclosed, the Air Force estimated it would reduce the cost of those services by nearly 10%. Teximara contended the savings were exaggerated, but GAO said the amount saved was “significant.” The Air Force argued successfully that it would be more efficient to conduct one A-76 cost comparison study rather than nine separate ones and that a single study would “reduce the additional turmoil to the agency workforce.” Because bundling does restrict competition, GAO said, “we will sustain a protest challenging a bundled solicitation issued in the context of an A-76 competition unless the agency has a reasonable basis for its determination that bundling is necessary to satisfy the agency’s needs.” In this case it determined that the Air Force met the test. The case is Teximara Inc., B-293221.2, decided July 9 but released July 29. The decision is available at www.gao.gov.