Hasta La Creative!

McCann has won what could be a significant victory in its legal back-and-forth with the government over the very lucrative U.S. Army contract.

Earlier this week, the Government Accountability Office issued an official judgment on McCann’s complaint about its earlier elimination from the review for an account that could concern up to $4 billion in spending over a decade.* By marking the bid protest “sustained,” the GAO effectively ruled in favor of McCann, which argued that it was unfairly eliminated due to technicalities.

This is the second piece of good news for McCann in less than a month. In August, the Army extended its contract with the agency for a third time, adding 12 months to the relationship six months after McCann was officially disqualified.

The initial decision to eliminate McCann appears to have stemmed from different readings of documents by the Army’s marketing and PR division and its Contracting Officer. The primary complaint noted by the Officer purportedly concerned the agency’s inability to confirm its status as a certified contractor, despite the fact that it has been the Army’s agency of record for more than a decade.

Now, the matter will presumably return to contracting court as the status of the larger review remains in limbo.

We have reached out to spokespeople for both McCann and the U.S. Army but have yet to receive a reply from either.

*As noted by one very friendly tipster, a clients’ spending totals are not the same as an agency’s fee totals. We know this! But as you are also aware, spending estimates are the only publicly available numbers for any given account. If you would like to share exactly what portion of that money will go to whichever agency ends up handling the business, please feel free to do so.