Intercede Share Discussion Threads

[wjccghcc] 02/5/2007 22:46

At this rate, the GSA SSP will never get going! Maybe some agencies will get fed up and do their own thing or join the DoI National Business Center SSP. The TWIC was also protested but that protest has been withdrawn after IBT won a subcontract from Lockheed.


Two firms protest GSA's HSPD-12 award to EDS

BY Jason Miller
Published on May 2, 2007

Two companies have protested the General Services Administration's award to EDS to run the agency's Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 Managed Services Office (MSO).

XTec and the Computer Literacy Team filed protests May 1 with the Government Accountability Office, according to the watchdog agency's bid protest docket Web site.

GSA last week awarded EDS a 17-month contract with three one-year options to implement 225 fixed and mobile HSPD-12 enrollment stations nationwide for at least 420,000 federal employees and contractors at 42 agencies.

An industry source said at least one of the protests centered on GSA's decision to award the $66 million contract to EDS even though its team didn't include a vendor approved to provide e-personalization and graphical personalization services.

Under graphical personalization services, the card vendor must have a GSA-approved partner to print the HSPD-12 cards using and approved printing algorithm and approved middleware, printers and other functions. Under e-personalization services, the vendor must have a GSA-approved partner that puts items such as the public-key infrastructure certificate on the card's chip.

There are seven products approved for e-personalization, but only one approved service vendor, Gemalto. Gemalto is on the Computer Literacy Team, which also includes CACI, ADT, Clear Government Solutions, Secure Network Systems and Identix.

Gemalto also is the only graphical personalization service provider on GSA's approved-product list.

EDS' team included e-personalization product providers ActivIdentity and Obethur Card Systems, but according to GSA neither have been approved to provide the service.

XTec is an approved e-personalization product provider.
EDS spokesman Brad Bass said company policy prohibits it from commenting on protests.

"EDS does plan to intervene in support of GSA's award, but we cannot at this time publicly comment on the issues raised in these protests," Bass said.

This is the second time unsuccessful bidders protested GSA's MSO award. In August 2006, when the agency awarded BearingPoint a $104 million contract, EDS, XTec and Lockheed Martin submitted objections.

GSA did not return an e-mail message asking for comment, and GAO has not yet assigned an attorney to the case.

[taurusthebear] 02/5/2007 07:38

jailbird - got enough, thanks - too illiquid for me. But if it goes down to silly levels, I'll re-consider. :0)

[maximoney1] 01/5/2007 21:08

Your welcome 3womw ...looking good for a rise from here...imo.

[3 wheels on my wagon] 01/5/2007 21:04

Thanks maximoney1, I thought it must be on there somewhere ;o)

[3 wheels on my wagon] 01/5/2007 19:53

If I could just add my 2p worth .....

I've noticed quite a lot of shares that I follow (FDP, IIR, RCG) have retraced 50% of their recent upswing - bounced and found support at that level.

A retracement of 50% is significant because it's a Fibonacci support level.

I can't post an ADVFN chart showing the fib levels because ADVFN don't do fib level studies. So roughly the numbers for IGP are:

Upswing from 30p to 70p = 40p

50% retracement = 20p, which corresponds to a shareprice of 50p

So hopefully 50p will become a support level.

[carly2] 01/5/2007 19:04

WJ and all,
Thanks for all of your positive comments. And, what a surprise, the share price starts rising!! perhaps we should talk up the price abit more often!!

[jailbird] 01/5/2007 15:37

well 200MA did indeed provide support..

[jailbird] 01/5/2007 15:09

ttb,

But when the share price turns or appears to have bottomed(personal feeling),
then i would have thought it is the time to buy,otherwise you may never buy, as no-one really knows where the bottom is..personally best to buy small amounts as it get to near low as to where you think.

[hywel] 01/5/2007 14:08

Hi TTB, yes that was me, the only way i can really focus on a company is if i have real money on the line so i've taken a small position with a view to adding as i agree with you i'm also expecting a small correction / retracement in the markets in the next couple of months and think things will get cheaper. Waiting for IND to pull back a bit especially.

Can't belive my 500 quids worth moved the price tho! This baby really is illiquid! Which should be good fun on the upside :-)

[taurusthebear] 01/5/2007 14:00

Did you buy 1,000? The price I'm getting is 49.3p. I'd have some but my only reservation is that the DOW has been so strong of late that I can see that coming off and pulling everything with it in the next month or two. But undoubtedly a good entry point here for those without any IGP. :0)

[hywel] 01/5/2007 13:53

Been watching these for a while and would like to spreadbet them but only IGIndex make a market in them and the spread is currenly 8%. Ooh thats just dropped to 5.8% - still big.

If i want to buy them looks like it'll have to be good ol' cash.

Can buy at 48.95p at the moment.

[wjccghcc] 01/5/2007 12:53

I'll contact him as well.

That 10k at 48.3p was mine. I also hold SRF which has been bid for on a PE of 36x prospective earnings. US companies are happy to pay up for rarity value in a strongly growing sector and with smart card spending forecast to increase 10x over the next 3 years, you don't get much faster growing than that.

[rambutan2] 01/5/2007 10:41

wjcc, i spotted the change and thought it good manners to do likewise.

aphrodites, yes, i've spoken to the fd a few times over the years and did call him 2-3mths ago and suggested something along the lines of the above. i guess that i'm sounding out this thread to see whether others agree, partic those holding a few shares ie with a bit of clout. if so, then i will make a follow up call. alternatively, indiv are more than welcome to do so themselves and put a bit of friendly pressure on the board.

[aphrodites] 01/5/2007 10:18

rambutan

Why not make your point in a telephone call to the F.D.

He is most approachable and will be pleased to have a word with you.

And very much like a few other posters here, I am sitting on my hands not at all worried by the recent weakness. The volume is pityful and the MM's are playing games and marking the price down until they see some firm buying.

No doubt like others here I would like to try and buy a few more at the bottom!

We are not far away.

No reason to panic or sell as some will innevitably do when they see their profits being erroded. This is when technical analysis becomes self-fullfilling!!!

[wjccghcc] 01/5/2007 09:49

Thanks rambutan :-)

[taurusthebear] 01/5/2007 08:55

Well, if a company like GHT can make a loss of nearly half a million quid, and yet still have a market cap. about 4 times that of IGP, then what will happen if IGP break into profit? :0)

[wjccghcc] 01/5/2007 07:50

I'd second those sentiments rambutan.

[rambutan2] 01/5/2007 00:12

wjcc, such a large stage is certainly a vote of confidence.

carly2, imho there are still v few investors, private or instit who are aware of igp. no doubt, some of the new punters pulled in by last autumns big rise do not really understand the company, while most of the longer termers likely have little capacity for adding more. hence the drift back.

however, i do believe that it's about time that the company did set out their stall a bit more clearly to the market, even if only as a way of rewarding the longer termers. it would be nice to gain a little insight as to how igp see things developing over the next couple of years, where they see new mkt opps etc etc etc. it's clear from this board that even the best informed of us sometimes struggle a little with the details and multiple partnerships across such a wide spectrum.

again, i would suggest that the company make an effort with the agm this year, hold it at a time and place where shareholders can attend without too much of a struggle or expense ie noon and somewhere with public transport links (previously wjcc suggested the brokers, which is where i've attended a number of smaller cos agms) and give a presentation with a question and answer session.

i'm sure that both the company and shareholders would benefit from the experience.

[wjccghcc] 30/4/2007 23:21

carly2, with TWIC unlikely to get going until the end of the year, I've revised that to 4-4.5mm giving PBT of 800k-1.3mm. That assumes approx 500k HSPD-12 and TWIC cards issued by March 08. Issuance is meant to ramp up over the summer with all new federal employees/contracters supposedly being issued PIV cards from Oct 07 (existing employees have until Oct 08) so that's not unreasonable at this stage.

Can't help you with the buy/hold/sell option. Personally, I have a large stake in the company at an average of 30p and haven't sold any yet. I'll probably add when this fall has tailed off but I suspect their remarkable contract progress won't show through significantly in the numbers until H2 so it may take until the Mar 08 trading statement before the market really takes notice.

Of course, they may not be independent that long if those big motors signify a potential acquiror doing due diligence :-)

[aphrodites] 30/4/2007 22:35

yump

Or they have been approached by an interested buyer!!!!!!!!!!!

[spooky] 30/4/2007 22:13

carly2 - Well spotted.

[yump] 30/4/2007 20:55

carly2
Big motors in the car park can only mean 3 things: either big private customers or big government customers or big consultants. The first 2 are a good sign, the other is the dubious kiss of strategic review ;-)
Or have they got another award to which the lord mayor was invited to visit ?

[garth] 30/4/2007 20:32

WJ,

Its just delayed so that they can allow SMRT/Hitachi/MULTOS on board. ;0)

"The program has also been delayed so TSA can align the TWIC standards with Federal Information Processing Standard 201, created to comply with Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. "We made the decision to bring TWIC into alignment with the new federal government biometric standards," said TSA Administrator Kip Hawley in his testimony before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee April 12.

The FIPS 201 standard includes interfaces for contact and contactless card readers, which the early TWIC standard did not. Maritime organizations warned TSA that port and maritime environments require contactless readers that can read the credentials of workers who could take time only to pause to wave their cards at the reader machines."

Apparently Hitachi went for Multefile for the specific purpose of targeting ID contracts....

G.