GAO Rejects Army's Bundled Contract The Government Accountability Office has sustained a protest over a bundled contract awarded by the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM). A small business, Sigmatech Inc., protested that the Army took system engineering and support services work away from it and rolled the work into a blanket purchase agreement awarded to a large company, Sverdrup Technology Inc. The Small Business Administration supported Sigmatech’s protest, saying the Army had not submitted the BPA for review under anti-bundling rules. GAO found that small firms had been providing support for the Army’s Robotic Systems Joint Project Office for 15 years. Sigmatech was the incumbent contractor in 2004, when the work was included in a five-year, $130 million BPA awarded to Sverdrup. Sigmatech was not notified of the change until after task orders had been awarded to Sverdrup. The BPA serves several Army activities. “Here, the record shows that TACOM did not perform any bundling analysis or notify the SBA or Sigmatech of its acquisition strategy,” GAO said. The analysis is required under anti-bundling regulations adopted in 2003. GAO recommended that the Army conduct the analysis to determine whether the bundling is justified under the regulations and submit its findings to SBA’s procurement center representative. The case, Matter of: Sigmatech, Inc., File B-296401, released Aug. 10, is available at www.gao.gov.