National Airmotive Corporation, B-280194, September 4, 1998

B-280194 Sep 04, 1998 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights That combining the three engines' workloads in one procurement is necessary to meet the agency's needs. The requirements are currently being performed at the San Antonio Air Logistics Center. Which is scheduled to be closed in 2001. National Airmotive maintains that it is a potential offeror for work relating only to the T-56 engine and protests that. The workloads at the closing depots will be performed. 1997) established certain requirements which are applicable to transition of the workloads currently being performed at Kelly AFB. /2/ 10 U.S.C.A. The Authorization Act provides that a procurement which combines multiple depot-level maintenance and repair workloads is permissible only if: (1) the Secretary of Defense determines in writing that the individual workloads cannot "as logically and economically" be performed without combination. View Decision Matter of: National Airmotive Corporation File: B-280194 Date: September 4, 1998 * Redacted Decision DIGEST Attorneys DECISION National Airmotive Corporation protests the provisions of request for proposals (RFP) No. F41608-98-R-0084, issued by the Department of the Air Force for the public/private competition of various workload requirements related to the depot-level maintenance and repair of T-56, TF-39, and F-100 aircraft engines. The requirements are currently being performed at the San Antonio Air Logistics Center, Kelly Air Force Base (AFB), Texas, which is scheduled to be closed in 2001. National Airmotive maintains that it is a potential offeror for work relating only to the T-56 engine and protests that, by combining the workloads and requiring offerors to submit proposals for all of the combined work, the solicitation unduly restricts competition. We deny the protest. BACKGROUND In July 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission recommended that Kelly AFB be realigned and the San Antonio Air Logistics Center be closed by July 2001. /1/ Since that decision, there has been a continuing debate over the process for deciding where, and by whom, the workloads at the closing depots will be performed. Last year, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998, Pub. L. 105-85, 111 Stat. 1629, 1696 (Nov. 18, 1997) established certain requirements which are applicable to transition of the workloads currently being performed at Kelly AFB. /2/ 10 U.S.C.A. Sec. 2469a (West Supp. 1998). Among other things, the Authorization Act provides that a procurement which combines multiple depot-level maintenance and repair workloads is permissible only if: (1) the Secretary of Defense determines in writing that the individual workloads cannot "as logically and economically" be performed without combination; (2) the Secretary submits a report to Congress setting forth the determination along with the reasons for the determination; and (3) no solicitation is issued for 60 days following submission of the report. 10 U.S.C.A. Sec. 2469a(e)(1). On December 19, 1997, the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Training executed the required determination regarding combination of the San Antonio workloads, reporting that determination along with the supporting reasons to Congress. Among other things, the Undersecretary's report stated that the three engines' workloads are currently managed as a single commodity; that the workloads share certain common processes which utilize common facilities, equipment and personnel skills; and that a single coordinated transition will mitigate readiness risks associated with transitioning to multiple contractors. The Authorization Act also required that the Comptroller General review and report on various aspects of the Department of Defense's (DOD) transition activities. Since the DOD determination, the General Accounting Office (GAO) has issued three reports concerning transition of the San Antonio workloads which, among other things, criticize the adequacy of the information that DOD provided in support of the determination to combine workloads. /3/ In the first report, issued in January 1998, /4/ GAO stated, among other things, that: It may be that the individual workloads at the closing San Antonio, Texas, and Sacramento, California, Air Force maintenance depots cannot as logically and economically be performed without combination . . . .