WASHINGTON-The Government Accountability Office has rejected Lucent Technologies Inc.’s protest of a $50 million contract awarded to U.K.-based Sepura Ltd. to supply TETRA mobile units for an advanced first responder network throughout Iraq.
Lucent last year won a $75 million contract to rebuild and modernize Iraq’s telecom infrastructure.
GAO ruled Lucent was ineligible for the first-responder handset contract because the company was involved in helping set guidelines for the nationwide public-safety wireless network.
Motorola Inc., which competed for the first-responder radio contract, challenged the U.S. Army’s selection of Sepura for the contract. Motorola later decided to withdraw the protest. The infrastructure contract for Iraq’s advanced first-responder network was awarded to an American company.
“The GAO ruling is under review, and no Lucent decisions have been made at this time,” said spokeswoman Denise Panyik-Dale.
Lucent could ask GAO to reconsider the decision, or the Murray Hill, N.J.-based firm could challenge the Sepura award before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
GAO said some parties-including Sepura-commented that the original request for proposals’ “‘device specifications’ appeared to be based on specific Motorola design.” The RFP was subsequently suspended and re-issued after undergoing revisions.
