U.S. Government Denies McCann's Bid Protest in Multibillion-Dollar Army Review

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a protest filed by McCann Worldgroup in August over its elimination from the U.S. Army review, threatening to end what has been a lucrative 12-year relationship for the IPG network.

This news means the review, which started in 2015, effectively comes down to Omnicom and WPP.

A McCann spokesperson confirmed that the agency plans to take its objections to federal court.

“The favorable GAO decision reflects the integrity of the Army acquisition process and contracting professionals as good stewards of taxpayer dollars in obtaining the best value,” said a U.S. Army representative. He also confirmed that McCann is no longer officially in the running for the business, writing, “Following the GAO’s decision, the source selection process will move forward in evaluating the remaining offerors to award the contract.”

In an internal memo sent to all staff this morning, McCann CEO Harris Diamond wrote, “After 12 productive years of helping the Army achieve its recruitment mission goals, this is an email I hoped I would not have to write,” stating that the agency had been eliminated by the contracting officer rather than the client organization itself and that the elimination was “based solely on a technical issue related to a missing disk.”