WASHINGTON (CN) - A U.S. Department of Defense contracting officer violated federal regulations by awarding a TRICARE Management Activity contract to Lockheed Martin Federal Healthcare without analyzing potential conflicts of interest, the Federal Claims Court ruled.
The contracting officer ignored the possibility that Lockheed had "unequal access to information" and "impaired objectivity" that threatened to undermine TRICARE's management and the integrity of the federal contract process, the court determined.
The court denied the government's motion to stay the order setting aside the contract, because a stay would bar losing bidder Axiom Resource Management from competing for future healthcare program jobs and pending contract work, which accounts for 10 percent of its business.
The government argued that a stay would allow the court to weigh in on its plan for dealing with conflicts of interest, but Judge Braden said the government's recent announcement of proposed rulemaking would hopefully "clarify existing ambiguities."
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