Auditors uncovered no evidence to substantiate allegations by Honeywell Technology Solutions that rival ITT gained an unfair advantage during competition for the NASA Space Communications Networks Services contract.

ITT and Honeywell have been in a years-long dispute over the contract, which NASA awarded to ITT in July after a Honeywell protest to the Government Accountability Office led NASA to recompete the contract after having awarded it to ITT in October 2008. The GAO dismissed Honeywell's most recent protest on Sept. 16, paving the way for ITT to execute the$1.26 billion contract.

The contract is for support of communications and tracking services for Earth-orbiting spacecraft, including the space shuttle and Earth observing system satellites. Honeywell was a three-decade incumbent performing similar services on a contract known since 2003 as Near Earth Network Services.

In a summary of a NASA inspector general investigation dated Dec. 9, NASA auditors sustain Honeywell's assertion that some ITT employees did have access to a Honeywell database because ITT had a systems engineering and technical direction services contract with NASA while it was also preparing a SCNS proposal. However, much of the information contained in the database was not proprietary to Honeywell since the government had unlimited data rights to NENS  work, the summary states. NASA officials told auditors that they placed "nearly identical" information into a publically accessible SCNS database.

Also, the 11 ITT personnel that did have access to the Honeywell database, didn't have access to information covered by the Procurement Integrity Act, i.e., source selection material such as Honeywell's SCNS proposal information, the summary states. Auditors also say that while 8 of those 11 employees worked on ITT's SCNS proposal, they all told auditors that they did not use any Honeywell information to develop their company's proposal.

Auditors say they aren't rendering judgment on Honeywell accusations that the SCNS procurement also suffered an organizational conflict of interest thanks to ITT's advisory work at the agency. However, they do say that they uncovered no evidence that those 11 ITT employees helped create the requirements, specifications or statement or work related to the SCNS as part of their advisory work.

Auditors also clear a former NASA employee of Procurement Integrity Act allegations, stating that they found no evidence to support Honeywell allegations that he violated ethics laws by assisting ITT with its SCNS bid.

A July investigation by House Science and Technology Committee majority staff into the SCNS saga concluded that the competition "has been skewed in such a fashion that, at a minimum, creates the appearance of the agency favoring one bidder over another."

For more:
- download (.pdf) the NASA OIG investigative summary

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