Zenith Protests Air Force Award to Unisys
 
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
WASHINGTON DC (Microbytes Daily News Service) --- Unisys'
shipment of 250,000 Personal Workstation 2 computers to the Air
Force may be delayed. On Monday, Zenith Data Systems (Glen View,
IL) filed an official protest of the USAF contract award with the
Board of Contract Appeals. In its protest, Zenith alleges that
the award to Unisys was improper; Zenith claims that its price
for equivalent computers was lower than Unisys', and that its
machines scored as well or better technically.
 
Zenith officials have declined to comment on the protest other
than to say they feel that the company has sufficient reason to
file it. However, sources close to the procurement process have
told Microbytes Daily that there were some unusual aspects to
the way the Air Force handled this bid. One source claimed there
was an attempt to circumvent the "Buy American" provisions of the
contract, required by federal law, so that the usual level of
American content was diluted. According to one source, the Air
Force procurement office decided to drop a requirement that math
coprocessor chips be made in the US when Unisys couldn't find a
supplier in the US at a competitive price, even though Zenith was
able to locate such a supplier.
 
Officials at Zenith and Unisys were not available for comment
on these allegations, or on suggestions that the Unisys
Personal Workstation 2 is a Goldstar (Korean) computer that
undergoes final assembly at a Unisys plant in New Jersey.
 
Sources close to the procurement process also said that the Air
Force was attempting to defuse protests relating to prices by
not releasing the unit prices of the computers or the optional
components. Attempts by Microbytes Daily to obtain unit prices of
the winning equipment either from the Air Force or from Unisys
were unsuccessful, even though this information is required to be
made public.
 
Meanwhile, Unisys won't be shipping any Personal Workstation 2s
until the protest is resolved. That promises to be a while.
Unisys has intervened on the side of the Air Force in the protest
case, and other vendors have said they will be intervening on the
side of Zenith.
 
                              --- Wayne Rash
 
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