In a recent protest decision (B-421792.2,B-421792.3, A Square Group), GAO determined that CMS did not consider the impact a proposed firewall would have on other bidder’s technical approach. The Request for Quotes sought a contractor to analyze activities in the Federally Facilitated Exchange (including reconciliation and validation of enrollment and payment data). Cogent People Inc., purposed a subcontractor that supports the FFE under a separate contract, but with a firewall between the work of this contract and the payments data generated by the subcontractor in its FFE contract.
In its decision, the GAO found fault in CMS evaluation of how Cogent would establish and handle the firewall. For instance, the GAO found Cogent did not show the staff separation in its organizational chart and proposed the subcontractor’s staff to perform aspects of the work subject to Organizational Conflicts of Interest. GAO also found CMS failed to evaluate the effect of the fire on the proposed technical approach. GAO recommended CMS reassesses its OCI analysis. This decision could mean that CMS contracting officers will be more stringent in their OCI and firewall reviews in the future.