The Air Force will release a draft amended Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Light Air Support (LAS) program April 17, according to a service statement.
The service also expects to release the final RFP by April 30 and sees a source selection decision in early 2013, according to a statement. This would allow the first aircraft delivery to Afghanistan in the third quarter of 2014, according to a statement.
Air Force officials will meet with both original offerors, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Hawker Beechcraft Defense Corp., individually April 17 to review the RFP line-by-line, according to a statement. After this review, the service will provide the draft amendment to the offerors, which will have time to submit comments on the amendment, according to a statement.
Air Force Material Command (AFMC) chief Gen. Donald Hoffman ordered a Commander Directed Investigation (CDI) into the cancellation Feb. 27. Part 1 of the CDI, which completed April 5, focused solely on the execution and the source selection processes and procedures of the original LAS contract, according to a statement. The changes to the RFP will more clearly define the evaluation criteria and tighten the decision-making process, according to a statement.
Part 2 of the CDI is underway and reviews two source selections from both the AFMC Product Center and Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Center to assess quality and consistency of source selection procedures implemented in other service systems acquisition programs, according to a statement. Any specific action will take place over the next several months, according to a statement.
Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said the CDI results would not be made public due to “sensitive information” (Defense Daily, April 6).
The LAS program is designed to provide Afghanistan with a light ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft. The Air Force announced in late February its intention to cancel Sierra Nevada’s winning bid of $355 million for 20 of Brazilian manufacturer Embraer’s 20 A-29 Super Tucano turboprop aircraft. The service said David Van Buren, its acquisition executive, wasn’t satisfied with the source selection documentation.
The Air Force previously eliminated Hawker Beechcraft and its AT-6 aircraft from the competition in late December for not having its proposal in the “competitive range.” Hawker Beechcraft protested the decision with the Government Accountability Office, but the case was dismissed on the grounds the company didn’t file a timely protest request (Defense Daily, Feb. 29).
It then filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims seeking to block execution of the contract on the basis of the Air Force “being unresponsive to a request for an explanation as to how it lost.” This move prompted the Air Force to order Sierra Nevada on Jan. 4 to stop work until the dispute was resolved (Defense Daily, Jan. 6).