Public team beats private for closing base's work

DAILY BRIEFING

Public team beats private for closing base's work

Federal employees beat out private contractors in a competition for depot maintenance work at a closing Air Force base in California, the Air Force announced Monday.

Ogden Air Logistics Center at Utah's Hill Air Force Base won the nine-year, $1.1 billion contract for depot work from Sacramento Air Logistics Center. The Sacramento center, at McClellan Air Force Base, Calif., is closing as a result of the most recent base closure round. Ogden beat Lockheed Martin Sacramento Aircraft Center in the competition.

The contract award is not yet official, pending the result of an Alabama contractor's protest to the General Accounting Office.

Darleen Druyun, principal deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and management at the Air Force, said Ogden will be able to perform the work 26 percent cheaper than what it had cost at McClellan. Over nine years, savings will total $638 million, Druyun said.

The maintenance work will be split between Ogden and its subcontractor, Boeing Aerospace Support Center, in San Antonio, Texas.

The award foiled a Clinton Administration effort to "privatize-in-place" the work at the California base. President Clinton had pledged to keep the work that had been performed at the base in California during the 1996 presidential campaign. However, Boeing will perform its share of the work on the site of Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, which is also closing.