By Ann Roosevelt
The Army Dec. 7 reaffirmed its initial decision, later overturned by a protest and recompeted, to award a contract valued at more than $4.6 billion for management of translation and interpretation services in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) to Global Linguist Solutions LLC (GLS) over L-3 Communications [LLL].
GLS is a partnership formed by DynCorp International [DCP] and McNeil Technologies. DynCorp International is the majority partner and will consolidate GLS revenue on its books.
The five-year contract, awarded to GLS by the Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), was initially awarded a year ago (Defense Daily, Dec. 19, 2006). The award was protested by L-3 to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The Army expedited a Request for Reconsideration with GAO and INSCOM issued a revised Request for Proposal.
“We are obviously disappointed with INSCOM’s decision regarding the linguist contract award,” Michael Strianese, L-3 president and CEO said in a Dec. 7 statement. “L-3 personnel will continue to perform the tasks outlined during any transition period. L-3 is proud to have had the opportunity to support the U.S. and Coalition efforts in Iraq.”
L-3 said the loss of the linguist contract has no impact on its previously announced financial guidance for the years ending Dec. 31, 2007, and 2008, which included the linguist contract through Dec. 9, 2007, and, as a result, the company is reaffirming its guidance for both periods.
Under the contract, GLS will provide foreign-language interpretation and translation services to the Army and other U.S. government agencies supporting OIF, including embedded Iraqi translators who will operate with U.S. forces.
GLS will employ up to 6,000 locally hired translators and up to 1,000 U.S. citizens with security clearances who are native speakers of languages spoken in Iraq.