The coveted contract for infrastructure projects at Wright-Patterson is by far the biggest local operations contract that the base awards from time to time, apart from the $332 million worth of projects being completed this year to house programs relocating from out-of-state bases under the 2005 base realignment and closure (BRAC) decisions. This contract represents a lucrative stream of income for the companies holding it, plus work for subcontractors they choose to employ.
The contract will succeed a $10 million deal, expiring in July, that was awarded in 2010 to a joint venture of Custom Mechanical Systems Corp., of Bargersville, Ind., and Dayton construction firm Daytep Inc., Mayer said.
The Air Force didn’t say how many other contractors competed for the contract, known as a Simplified Acquisition of Base Engineering Requirements (SABER) contract. Wright-Patterson and many other bases use these types of contracts to award construction projects as successive task orders, up to the allowable maximum amount of money authorized by the agreement.
Air Force contracting officials moved deliberately to choose the new SABER contractor, taking the unusual step of awarding the one-year contract last year to CMS/Daytep, because of a major scandal involving a prior contractor. In September 2009, the Air Force suspended Arctic Pipe & Materials (APM) LLC, the prior SABER contractor at Wright-Patterson and other Air Force bases, from federal contracting because of alleged fraud in obtaining government contracts set aside for minority-owned contractors.
The government regards companies structured as Alaskan Native-owned entities as minority-owned for contract competitions. APM, as well as North Island Corp., competed for the Air Force business as Alaskan-owned companies.
North Island said its construction portfolio for the government includes projects at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C.; Fort Myer, Va., the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. Centennial Contractors Enterprises said its federal service includes construction work at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.; Joint Base Andrews, Md.; Fort Lee and Fort Belvoir in Virginia, Washington Navy Yard and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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