The Government Accountability Office rejected Monday a bid protest by Equifax who is trying to retain its contract with the IRS. The no-bid contract which was awarded to the credit reporting agency, was temporarily suspended last week, after a second data breach was disclosed by Equifax.
The IRS instead awarded the agreement to a competitor of Equifax’s, Experian, a decision which the GAO determined to be justified. The credit bureau argued that Experian did not possess the technical expertise necessary to meet the IRS’s demands.
“GAO denied Equifax’s protest, concluding that the IRS reasonably found that the Experian offer would meet the agency’s needs. In essence, GAO’s decision concludes that Equifax’s contentions were based on an unreasonable interpretation of the solicitation,” a GAO procurement attorney said.
The IRS issued a statement saying the services under the new contract may take some time to start, but they were looking forward to it. The statement also said the status of the short-term contract with Equifax is still under review.
According to the GAO, the one-year contract with Experian is worth only a fraction of the cost, about $795,000, considerably less than the contract which was previously awarded to Exquifax for the same services.
A spokesperson from Equifax said they were “engaging IRS officials to understand how they wish to proceed, and we remain ready to support the agency in the future.”
The credit reporting company was severely criticized by lawmakers of both parties after their system was broken into by hackers, exposing the personal information, such as Social Security numbers and birth dates, of millions of Americans. The contract, under which Equifax was to verify taxpayer identities when creating accounts on their website, was put on hold while the security of their systems was being reviewed.
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