Feral Jundi

     The requirement includes, but is not limited to, fixed wing aircraft, personnel, equipment, tools, material, maintenance and supervision necessary to perform passenger, cargo, passenger and cargo combination (COMBI) and LCLA airdrop operations using STOL air transportation services between locations in the Areas of Responsibility (AOR) of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The contractor shall provide all direct labor, transportation, supervision, training, fixed wing aircraft, administrative support for conducting air operations and all other items and services necessary to perform Air Support Services (parachute operations) for Government directed aerial delivery missions.

*****

     This is neat.  This solicitation at FBO is for a very unique contract that would certainly provide for some interesting and extremely dangerous work.  Basically they want STOL aircraft to fly around in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan to drop paracargo and transport people and things. And with STOL aircraft, that means airplanes that can land on short mountain top strips, roads, or flat valley areas. They are also cheaper to run than helicopters.

     The other thing I clued in on with this contract, is it looks like the company tasked with performing this work will do ‘everything’. Does this mean using their own kickers or spotters, who are tasked with pushing the paracargo out of the aircraft? I would assume so.  In the past, this was done primarily by Air Force loadmasters (or Army loadmasters).

   If you go back to the Vietnam war, the kickers that Air America used were contractors.(mostly former smokejumpers or ex-military loadmasters) They also kicked cargo all over South East Asia and the missions were dangerous and very specialized. Personally I think this is great news, because this is the kind of work that could easily be done by non-military loadmasters.

     My small community of smokejumpers continue to specialize in these kind of operations for forest fire work, and they don’t even bother with the GPS guided stuff.  We specialized in putting the ‘low cost’ into the Low Cost, Low Altitude paracargo mission, and have been doing it that way for a very long time.

    Either way, this would be some interesting work, and if you check out the interested venders list, you will see just how big this is.  Presidential Airways and Evergreen Aviation have put in for this contract, as well as tons of other companies I have never heard of. With the surge of troops and thousands of guys spread throughout the region, aviation work will continue to be a very lucrative contract in this war. And fixed wing STOL is about as cheap as you can go for aviation transport or paracargo operations. -Matt

——————————————————————–

An old Pilatus Porter on a remote mountain strip. 

V–Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) and Low Cost and Low Altitude (LCLA) Aerial Delivery Services – Afghanistan

Solicitation Number: W52P1J-10-R-0100

Agency: Department of the Army

Office: Army Contracting Command

Location: Rock Island Contracting Center (RI-CC)

Notice Type:Solicitation

Original Posted Date: February 18, 2010

Posted Date:June 23, 2010

Response Date:July 26, 2010

Original Response Date:July 26, 2010

Archiving Policy:Automatic, on specified date

Original Archive Date:April 26, 2010

Archive Date:August 14, 2010

Original Set Aside:N/A

Set Aside:N/A

Classification Code:V — Transportation, travel, & relocation services

NAICS Code:481 — Air Transportation/481219 — Other Nonscheduled Air Transportation

Solicitation Number:W52P1J-10-R-0100

Notice Type:Solicitation

Synopsis:

Added: Feb 18, 2010 11:22 am Modified: Apr 19, 2010 3:25 pmTrack Changes

This is a Pre-Solicitation Notice for the US Army Contracting Command; Rock Island Contracting Center (RICC) Solicitation W52P1J-10-R-0100 which serves as notification to Industry of the procurement for Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) and Low Cost and Low Altitude (LCLA) Aerial Delivery Services in Afghanistan in support of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force- Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A).

The anticipated date for release of the Request for Proposal is on/or about 14 May 2010. Solicitation W52P1J-10-R-0100 will be issued on a full and open/unrestricted basis. The requirement includes, but is not limited to, fixed wing aircraft, personnel, equipment, tools, material, maintenance and supervision necessary to perform passenger, cargo, passenger and cargo combination (COMBI) and LCLA airdrop operations using STOL air transportation services between locations in the Areas of Responsibility (AOR) of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The contractor shall provide all direct labor, transportation, supervision, training, fixed wing aircraft, administrative support for conducting air operations and all other items and services necessary to perform Air Support Services (parachute operations) for Government directed aerial delivery missions.

Under schedule 599-4 Air Charter Services – Owner Operated contractors must be DoD approved in accordance with (IAW) DoD Instruction 4500.53. Under schedule 599-5 Air Charter Services – Broker contractors must obtain services from DoD approved contractor IAW DoD Instruction (DoD) 4500.53.

This acquisition will utilize Best Value source selection procedures. The STOL and LCLA aerial delivery services requirement will be satisfied through the use of a single Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) DoD Contract with a base period of one (1) year plus four (4) one-year evaluated option periods.

The NAICS Code for this procurement is 481219.

If your company is interested in this procurement it is advised that you monitor the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website at http://www.fbo.gov. Inquires / questions concerning this pre-solicitation notice may be emailed to Mr. Justin Lockett at email: justin.lockett@us.army.mil.

Please consult the list of document viewers if you cannot open a file.

Solicitation 1

Type:Solicitation

Posted Date:June 23, 2010

http://www4.osc.army.mil/padds_web/amc.asp?sol=W52P1J10R0100

Description: See Solicitation

Contracting Office Address:Rock Island Contracting Center (RI-CC), ATTN: AMSAS-AC, Rock Island, IL 61299-6500

Place of Performance:Rock Island Contracting Center (RI-CC) ATTN: CCRC-RJ, Justin Lockett Rock Island IL

61299-8000

US

Point of Contact(s):

Justin Lockett, 309-782-1051

Website here.