Last year, the National Institutes of Health was preparing to allow health care companies to compete for a multimillion-dollar follow-on to a decade-old contract funding epidemiological studies.
A “full and open competition” was the NIH’s plan when a 10-year, $112 million contract awarded to Social & Scientific Systems Inc. in June 2016 was nearing its expiration.
The government typically prefers to solicit bids from multiple potential contractors when such a need arises so that healthy competition can keep costs down.
But the Department of Government Efficiency got in the way.
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“Although planning for the recompete was underway in calendar year 2025 … Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ caused unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of the acquisition office causing significant delays to the acquisition process,” an NIH spending document obtained by The Washington Sun reads.
“Between 2025 and 2026, several delays occurred due to staffing changes, organizational transition and other internal realignments,” the document continues.
As a result, instead of the “full and open competition” the agency had hoped for, it handed Social & Scientific Systems Inc. a two-year, no-bid, $20 million extension to its current work to carry out “research on the effects of the environment on human health.”
“Unfortunately, all efforts made to recompete are out of date and need to be updated and resubmitted for reviews,” the document reads. “The current recompetition has not yet begun and requires full two years to ensure proper attention is made to the process to satisfy acquisition rules, regulations and guidelines.”
The NIH noted that if it were to switch awardees now, the “costs associated with transition are estimated at approximately $9 Million.”
The document itself received sign-offs from NIH officials in April and June when the contract was extended, but it was only posted to a government website this week.
DOGE, the brainchild of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, set out to revolutionize what the pair viewed as a woefully inefficient federal bureaucracy. Instead, DOGE’s chaotic implementation sometimes resulted in a breakdown of agency action meant to reduce taxpayer spending.
The NIH did not return a request for comment.
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