Feds triumph in $10B public-private competition

A federal depot Friday won a 15-year $10 billion Air Force contract, beating a private firm in a public-private competition for military maintenance work.

The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., won the massive engine maintenance contract over Pratt and Whitney San Antonio Engine Services. The competition was the largest public-private competition in Air Force history.

Most of the work is now performed at the San Antonio Air Logistics Center on Kelly Air Force Base, Texas. Kelly is closing as part of the 1995 base closure round. F-100 engine maintenance for the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft will move to Oklahoma City. The rest of the work will be performed by the Oklahoma City center's major subcontractor, Lockheed Martin Kelly Aircraft, at the company's facilities in San Antonio.

About 1,500 jobs will move to Oklahoma City, while about 1,400 will remain in San Antonio.

Darleen Druyun, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition and management announced Oklahoma City as the winner of the competition on Friday. Druyun said the award will save the Air Force approximately $1.8 billion over 15 years, about 14.5 percent less than it would have cost if the work had remained at the San Antonio Air Logistics Center.