Commentary

Dismissed! GAO Upholds Its Decision Booting McCann From Army Review

The drama continues with the seemingly endless and ongoing U.S. Army review. On Wednesday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office denied a second formal protest by McCann of its elimination from the review.

McCann has indicated that it will appeal in U.S. Federal Court.

The agency argued that it was eliminated on a technicality cited by the GAO and that the actual  client—the Army that is--didn’t have the opportunity to evaluate its pitch on its merits. The GAO didn’t explain its ruling noting that a final decision will come later.

McCann has fought tooth and nail to retain this account for years — the original renewal RFP was issued in 2015 (!).

And it’s not surprising — the firm has reaped an estimated $30 million in annual revenues from the assignment in recent years. Yeah, I think I’d explore every opportunity to stay in the pitch given those stakes.

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The review has been full of twists and turns including a reported affair at one point between a McCann staffer on the account and a marketer on the client side.

Last year the GAO also booted McCann from the review but the agency protested and won. The Army extended McCann’s contract for one year about a year ago because of various delays.

McCann has handled the account for about 15 years. If its bid to remain in contention doesn’t succeed, it looks like Omnicom or WPP will assume command of the account.

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