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10-29-2007, 08:19 AM
The Government Accountability Office has dismissed iRobot’s protest of the $279.9 million military contract awarded last month to its rival. The GAO says the protest no longer applies in light of the Army’s decision earlier this week to set aside the contract as it reassesses Robotic FX’s suitability to perform the work.
The most recent news came in a filing by the U.S. Attorney’s office that was posted online stating “[GAO] will not consider a protest where the issue presented has no practical consequences with regard to an existing federal government procurement, and thus is of purely academic interest.”
U.S. Attorney Anita Johnson filed the GAO’s decision along with related documents in U.S. District Court in Boston, where iRobot, of Burlington, MA, is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent Robotic FX from manufacturing its Negotiator robot, which iRobot contends is a knock-off of its own PackBot. Both the Negotiator and the PackBot qualified in the Army competition to produce bomb detection robots, but Robotic FX underbid iRobot.
For more information:
http://www.xconomy.com/2007/10/27/gao-dismisses-irobot-protest-calls-it-moot-as-army-reassesses-robotic-fx/
The most recent news came in a filing by the U.S. Attorney’s office that was posted online stating “[GAO] will not consider a protest where the issue presented has no practical consequences with regard to an existing federal government procurement, and thus is of purely academic interest.”
U.S. Attorney Anita Johnson filed the GAO’s decision along with related documents in U.S. District Court in Boston, where iRobot, of Burlington, MA, is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent Robotic FX from manufacturing its Negotiator robot, which iRobot contends is a knock-off of its own PackBot. Both the Negotiator and the PackBot qualified in the Army competition to produce bomb detection robots, but Robotic FX underbid iRobot.
For more information:
http://www.xconomy.com/2007/10/27/gao-dismisses-irobot-protest-calls-it-moot-as-army-reassesses-robotic-fx/