Pond security picks up another contract in Germany as GAO dismisses protest

GERMANY — An Army contract for security at its bases in Germany is moving ahead after the U.S. Government Accountability Office dismissed a protest against the award. The decision essentially upholds the four-year, $334 million contract the Army awarded to Pond Security Service in October.

“Naturally we’re pleased to hear the good news,” said Chad Geier, Pond’s chief of staff. “But we more or less expected it to go this way.”

Earlier in the year, Pond — which has been providing security to U.S. Army posts since the 1980s — lost a bid to continue the job to German rival Sicherheit Nord. That award was canceled two months later after protests to the GAO by Pond and U.S.-based security company Triple Canopy.

GAO dismissed those complaints after the Army agreed to undertake “remedial action,” which included reopening the competition and allowing companies that had originally bid on the contract to provide additional information about their offers.

The Army is now moving forward with Pond, said a spokeswoman for the Army’s 409th Contracting Support Brigade.

The decision was the second bit of good news Pond received this week. On Monday, the company announced it had won a contract to guard American school buses.

A spokesman for the Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe said Pond was awarded the contract to provide security attendants on its buses in the central European sector, which covers the Bavaria and Kaiserslautern districts in Germany. That contract, valued at $21 million, includes a six-month base period with four one-year options, said DODDS-Europe spokesman Bob Purtiman.

By Matt Millham of the Stars and Strips