Perspecta had filed a protest after a key award went to a rival. Now the GAO is out with its ruling.

The Government Accountability Office closed the books on the second protest of a pivotal IT modernization contract in a week. The agency denied a protest Wednesday by Chantilly-based Perspecta Inc., which had originally held the contract but, in February, watched the next $7.7 billion iteration of the NGEN-R Service Management, Integration and Transport (SMIT) contract go to Leidos Holdings Inc.’s (NYSE LDOS) instead. The decision on Perspecta's protest, which was filed March 9, remains under…