Vendor: Are individual guard weapons truly required to be fully automatic, as semi-auto weapons are shown to be safer and increase accuracy?
Contracting Officer: YES, FULLY AUTO
-From a question on one of the solicitations from the FBO.
This is cool. I have been playing around with the FBO search features and figured out a way to identify all the armed security related solicitations that have come out over the last year, for Iraq and Afghanistan. This is how you can find out what is coming up for contracts, and who has won what. It is also a way to put rumors to rest and refer to a source that you can depend upon for clarification.
For those contractors and businesses that are interested in tracking FBO, just use these NAICS codes ‘561612 — Security Guards and Patrol Services’ and ‘561613 — Armored Car Services‘ in the Advanced Search feature of the site. Then play around with locations and see what pops up. I have already searched Europe, Asia, South America, etc., and lots of interesting things pop up.
What was really intriguing to me was to see how many documents came out this last year, both in the US and abroad in regards to the search input of security guards, patrol services, and armored car services. 328 pages of solicitations came up! That is remarkable and it sure doesn’t sound like the government is shying away from contracting security. If anything, that just shows how dependent the government really is on private industry to provide these services.
Also, if you click on any of the Afghanistan solicitations below, you will find the questions and answers section under synopsis. This is where vendors ask the contracting officer about the particulars of the solicitation. This is very interesting to me, because a lot of the questioning revolves around Crazy Karzai’s decree and how it will impact these contracts.
Along with these clarifications, might I also point out that two awards just came out in regards to armed security contracts in Afghanistan. There were also some solicitations that were cancelled, and probably because of the latest crap going on in Afghanistan. Maybe not, and I am not privy to the particulars of these contracts and the deciding factors.
Either way, please check out the links below because you can learn a lot about these armed security contracts overseas. I also need more folks checking this stuff out so they can pick up on any little details that are of interest that is being missed by the industry or public discourse. The FBO is a wealth of information, and if you are a small business owner or independent contractor trying to get into the game, it is vital that you track and understand what is coming out on FBO so you can ‘be prepared’ and ‘know your stuff’. –Matt
Department of the Army
CENTCOM – Joint Theater Support Contracting Command
KABUL RCC Award Oct 31, 2010
Department of the Army
CENTCOM – Joint Theater Support Contracting Command
KABUL RCC Award Oct 31, 2010
R — Professional, administrative, and management support services
Department of the Army
Joint Contracting Command, Iraq/Afgahnistan
FENTY RCC (JALALABAD) Combined Synopsis/Solicitation / Cancelled Oct 25, 2010
R — Professional, administrative, and management support services
Department of the Army
Joint Contracting Command, Iraq/Afgahnistan
FENTY RCC (JALALABAD) Combined Synopsis/Solicitation / Cancelled Oct 19, 2010