Contractor wins $26.8 million Energy Department competition

A small Alexandria, Va.-based company beat out a team of federal employees competing for a facilities management contract at the Energy Department.

The contract, valued at $26.8 million over five years, went to Logistics Applications, Inc., a firm that specializes in facilities management, information services and training. The work, which involves electricians, maintenance mechanics and technicians, is now being done by about 90 employees in Washington. It is the largest Energy competition to be won by a private contractor.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents 2,000 Energy employees, criticized the award.

"NTEU has no information on why the work of these employees is being taken away," said union president Colleen M. Kelley in a press release. She said the agency initially told NTEU that the union would be involved with the bidding process, but that it was not.

NTEU is looking for ways to protest the award, which it says places 58 jobs at risk. Bidders, including a management official who represents employees, have 10 days to file a protest from March 3, the day the winner was announced.

Dennis E. O'Brien, Energy's director of competitive sourcing, said the department would be taking steps to help displaced employees find new jobs. "Right now, we're coming up with a mitigation plan," he said. It could include relocating employees to different departments and agencies within Energy, he added.

The facilities maintenance contract was the sixth job competition at Energy since President Bush began the governmentwide competitive sourcing initiative. Private contractors have won two, one of which involved only eight positions, and the department's employees have won four, said O'Brien.

He declined to specify the amount saved from the competition because that information had not yet been announced to employees. Energy received three bids on the contract.

Logistics Applications' president, Albert J. Edmonds, declined to comment until the protest period was over. Logistics Applications is classified as a small minority-owned business owned by a service-disabled veteran, and has about 200 employees. It counts Xerox, the State Department, and the General Services Administration among its clients, according to its Web site.