Air Force awards protested $1.6B contract to depot

The Air Force Friday rejected a protest and awarded a nine-year, $1.6 billion contract to a public-private team led by Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

The depot maintenance work will be transferred from Sacramento Air Logistics Center at California's McClellan Air Force Base, which is closing, to the Ogden center and to a Boeing facility in Texas. In approving the contract, the Air Force rejected a recommendation by the comptroller general that the workload be split up and rebid so that small contractors could compete for the work.

"It is very rare for the Department of Defense not to implement [the comptroller general's] recommendations in a bid protest decision," the Air Force said in a statement. "The decision to proceed with award to the Ogden ALC was based primarily on readiness concerns."

Pemco Aeroplex, Inc., an Alabama firm, had protested the contract because the company was unable to compete for one segment of the workload. The comptroller general sustained Pemco's protest in late September.

The Air Force said a new competition would have taken at least a year to complete. The delay would have forced the McClellan depot to continue the maintenance work, which includes maintenance for KC-135 aircraft and A-10 aircraft, along with upkeep of hydraulic equipment, electrical accessories and flight instruments. That would have slowed down conversion efforts at the closing base, the Air Force said. The Air Force also expects to save $638 million over nine years by awarding the work to Ogden.

"It is essential that the Air Force move forward to protect readiness, achieve savings and meet the base closure mandate," the Air Force said.

Boeing, which is serving as a subcontractor to Ogden, will perform KC-135 maintenance at its facilities on San Antonio's Kelly Air Force Base. Like McClellan, Kelly is closing as part of the last base-closure round.