NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, August 13, 2015

The Government Accountability Office has denied a bid protest filed in response to the U.S. Agency for International Development’s award decision on the Global Health Supply Chain – Procurement and Supply Management project, the agency’s largest-ever contract, valued at $9.5 billion.

The Partnership for Supply Chain Management, a consortium of government contractors including John Snow, Inc., previously held the award. In filing the protest, the consortium argued USAID did not adequately account for the value of past experience and accepted an unreasonably low-priced proposal without ensuring the work could actually be carried out at that price. Those charges were not supported by GAO, which denied the protest Tuesday.

The Global Health Supply Chain project will now fall to a new consortium of implementers led by Chemonics International, Inc. The project coordinates a massive logistical effort to distribute livesaving drugs and treatments to combat and treat a range of diseases, including HIV and AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.