The U.S. Court of Federal Claims upheld Friday the Air Force lifting of a stay-of-work order that allowed Sierra Nevada Defense Corp. (SNC) and Embraer [ERJ] to begin work on the $427 million Light Air Support (LAS) contract.
Wichita, Kan.-based Beechcraft, which lost the competition to provide 20 light attack aircraft to Afghanistan’s nascent air force for a second time, sued the Air Force to prevent work from beginning while it protests the Air Force’s award to SNC with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
“While we reluctantly accept the court’s opinion, we will continue to contest this award through the GAO and as a program of record for building partnership capacity with other nations that desire Light Air Support aircraft,” Beechcraft spokeswoman Nicole Alexander said Friday in a statement.
SNC is teaming with Brazilian manufacturer Embraer to provide its A-29 Super Tucano. SNC said Friday in a statement the court’s decision ensures LAS work will continue uninterrupted and that the company will be able to deliver the A-29s by mid-2014. SNC also said the decision allows the company to continue standing up its Jacksonville, Fla.-area facility by hiring workers and entering into contracts with suppliers.
GAO said it expects to make its decision on Beechcraft’s protest no later than June 17 (Defense Daily, March 11).
This is the second time in the LAS saga Beechcraft has protested after losing out on the contract. Beechcraft last protested in 2011 before the Air Force threw out the previous award to SNC due to potential bias in favor of SNC in the original source selection process (Defense Daily, Dec. 7).
Embraer said in March it entered into a 10-year lease on a 40,000 square foot facility at Jacksonville International Airport, Fla., where it will produce the A-29s. The facility will perform pre-equipping, mechanical assembly, structural assembly, systems installation and testing and flight testing of the A-29 (Defense Daily, March 19).