GAO Dismisses IRobot Protest—Calls It Moot as Army Reassesses Robotic FX

In the latest episode of the iRobot-Robotic FX drama, 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 after hours yesterday (we love these after-hours filings, especially on Fridays, because we don’t have social lives here at Xconomy). “We 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,” read the GAO’s short decision.

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.

We have a lot of background here. And the most recent previous developments, including the Army’s decision to set aside the Robotic FX contract, are covered here.

You might ask whether iRobot really cares about the preliminary injunction now, with the Robotic FX contract set aside. But rest assured, it does. Sources close to the investigation tell us that there are two major issues here. One is that the Army reassessment could still find for Robotic FX, and the contract could be reinstated. The other is that the only thing set aside is the military contract. IRobot, which among other things alleges trade secret misappropriation by Robotic FX and its founder, Jameel Ahed, wants to stop Robotic FX from producing Negotiator robots for any purpose.

A ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner on the preliminary injunction issue is considered imminent. We’ll stay on it, and hope that the next move is announced during working hours.

In the meantime, you can read the U.S. Attorney’s latest filing here—and the GAO’s decision here.

Author: Robert Buderi

Bob is Xconomy's founder and chairman. He is one of the country's foremost journalists covering business and technology. As a noted author and magazine editor, he is a sought-after commentator on innovation and global competitiveness. Before taking his most recent position as a research fellow in MIT's Center for International Studies, Bob served as Editor in Chief of MIT's Technology Review, then a 10-times-a-year publication with a circulation of 315,000. Bob led the magazine to numerous editorial and design awards and oversaw its expansion into three foreign editions, electronic newsletters, and highly successful conferences. As BusinessWeek's technology editor, he shared in the 1992 National Magazine Award for The Quality Imperative. Bob is the author of four books about technology and innovation. Naval Innovation for the 21st Century (2013) is a post-Cold War account of the Office of Naval Research. Guanxi (2006) focuses on Microsoft's Beijing research lab as a metaphor for global competitiveness. Engines of Tomorrow (2000) describes the evolution of corporate research. The Invention That Changed the World (1996) covered a secret lab at MIT during WWII. Bob served on the Council on Competitiveness-sponsored National Innovation Initiative and is an advisor to the Draper Prize Nominating Committee. He has been a regular guest of CNBC's Strategy Session and has spoken about innovation at many venues, including the Business Council, Amazon, eBay, Google, IBM, and Microsoft.