It’s official. The U.S. Navy’s Guam Base Operations Support Services contract rebid solicitation has been released by the U.S. Navy in Hawaii. The much awaited issuance announcement came out on April 9.

A required pre-bid conference and site visit is scheduled for May 4 to 7 when as many as a dozen Fortune 500 prime contractors and an unknown number of small businesses hoping to profit from the contract will attend a three-day pre-proposal/site visit.

The proposed contract is to be awarded in December 2004 with a mobilization and phase-in period of three months leading to full performance beginning in April 2005.

The solicitation is issued on a unrestricted basis. Unlike the current Raytheon contract which is a fixed-price type the federal government intends to award a cost-plus-award-fee with award-options contract. The government also reserves the right to convert to a firm fixed price contract with an indefinite quantity provision at the beginning of the second option period or anytime thereafter if it so desires.

The contract period of performance is anticipated to consist of a 12-month base period the first three months for mobilization/phase-in followed by nine months of full performance; four 12-month option periods with the possibility of five additional award-option periods and a three-month phase-out period.

The award will be made to the responsible offeror whose proposal conforming to the solicitation represents the best value to the government — price and technical factors considered — the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Web page that lists the solicitation said.

The anticipated technical evaluation factors for judging the proposals are based on management past performance technical approach/methods and small-business utilization.

The federal government has made it clear that it intends to award a contract without conducting discussions and cautioned the prospective bidders that the initial proposal shall contain its best terms from a cost or price and technical standpoint.

Major large contractors who have expressed interest as prime contractors include Johnson Controls World Services of Cape Canaveral Fla. DynPacific a local subsidiary of CSC DynCorp Technical Services headquartered in Fort Worth Texas AECOM-Shaw Associates of Los Angeles Calif.; JA Jones Inc. of Charlotte N.C. and Kellogg Brown & Root of Arlington Va. Some companies already have an established presence on Guam.

DynPacific Services LLC a company formed by CSC DynCorp Technical Services BAE Systems and Trend Western Services for the express purpose of submitting a Guam BOS proposal held a reception on April 7 to announce the opening of their Guam office and have already begun accepting employment resumes and applicants from Guam residents in anticipation of winning the contract.

Crusher Craigie president of DynPacific said “DynPacific is excited that the Navy released the Guam BOS Request for Proposal on April 9. This officially starts a lengthy proposal and evaluation process that concludes with award. We are hopeful that the U.S. Navy will award to DynPacific because of our best-value proposal. We look forward to partnering with businesses and individuals from Guam to achieve a DynPacific win.”
E. Michael Leonard project general manager for government operations for Kellogg Brown & Root said “On the advice of my company I must decline comment. We have received the government’s solicitation and are reviewing it. We remain in contact with the Guam subcontractors with whom we intended to team. We will review the government’s solicitation in detail before making any further decisions regarding this potential business opportunity.”

In commenting on the RFP’s release Robert Pizzano president of AECOM-Shaw Associates said “We at ASA are very excited that the solicitation has been issued and we can now get down to the business of documenting our exceptional capabilities people and plans. The RFP confirms what our ongoing conversations with Navy and Guam officials have suggested — that NAVFAC is looking for a contractor who can build on the best of the past while introducing the new ideas and efficiencies needed for the future. Guam Naval Base has a new role — and ASA is a new kind of contractor who can successfully manage this unprecedented pace of change.”

A number of firms have formed partnerships with other large contractors in order to provide services to the Navy in a best-value scenario. Besides the aforementioned pairings JA Jones Inc. and CH2Mhill are presently providing services to the military on Guam and are likely to participate.

Johnson Controls Inc. and Raytheon Technical Services Guam were asked to comment for this story but no communication had been received at press time.
The delay in issuing the RFP initially due to appear in October 2003 then delayed to March 2004 has had some contractors accusing Raytheon of using high-powered political lobbyists to have the solicitation slowed or completely taken away.
C. Paul Beskow senior proposal manager for Johnson Controls Inc. told the Journal (See “BOS contract RFP delayed companies displeased ” in the Oct. 8 issue of the Journal.) “At this time we are seriously considering our position while at the same time checking our intelligence to find out what the current contractor Raytheon is doing at high levels within the Pentagon.”

He said at the time “We simply cannot imagine what has changed so drastically that requires a six-month delay. We might understand in a month or two but a delay of this length is very suspicious.”

Since the contract was first awarded to Raytheon Technical Services Guam in February 1999 the Navy has paid Raytheon $12.09 million for the base year from Feb. 3 1999 to Sept. 30 2000; $36.80 million in the first option year to Sept. 30 2001; $79.03 million in the second option year to Sept. 30 2002; and $51.13 million in the third contract year through Aug. 14 2003. The Navy announced on Oct. 8 2003 it was renewing its contract for a fourth option year for $66.4 million.

All interested parties wishing to attend the required pre-proposal conference as well as the site visit must register by email to [email protected] by the close of business on April 21 Hawaii Standard Time.

In a previous interview when asked why the Navy was putting the contract out for re-bid before Ratheon had a chance to complete it Leonard said believed it was because the Navy wants to know what it actually costs to perform the work.

“The Navy made a serious mistake when the contract was issued as a fixed price contract. There have been so many claims and adjustments that they have had to go back to the drawing board. Now it will be issued as a cost-plus contract which means the successful prime will have to open its books for audit which in the end means they will be able to write a better fixed price contract on down the road.”

Kenneth Q. Lujan Small Business Administration Guam branch office manager said “Unlike the previous site visit held in October 2003 the SBA will not be holding a trade fair for the attendees.”

The anticipated BOS services to be performed include but are not limited to General Management & Administration Services; Command and Staff (Public Affairs Office); Public Safety (Safety and Contingency); Port Operations; Ordnance; Supply (limited to personal property/ household goods support and defense property accountability system); Galley; Facilities Management; Facilities Services; Sustainment
Restoration/Modernization; Utilities (potable water wastewater electrical and steam); Base Support Vehicles and Equipment; and Environmental.

It should be noted for parties interested in downloading the solicitation from the Naval Facilities Engineering Command E-Solicitation Web site http://esol.navfac.navy.mil the solicitation number is N62742-03-R-3501. The printed hard copy version is approximately 3 500 pages in length. The computer download takes 109 mega-bytes of disc drive space.MBJ