The Air Force must move quickly to execute the Afghanistan Light Air Support (LAS) contract with Sierra Nevada it intends to terminate with a new solicitation and source selection before the funds expire at the end of fiscal year 2013, according to its service chief.
“If the money expires, as I understand it, at the end of (fiscal year) ’13, we have to move quickly to execute the program with a new solicitation and source selection in order to get it done before the funds expire,” Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told reporters yesterday during a Defense Writers Group breakfast. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that if we’re going to thin out our presence in Afghanistan, having the Afghan Army/Air Force with a close air support capability that can support the Afghan National Army (and) troops in the field is important, is essential.”
Schwartz said one purpose of the Commander Directed Investigation (CDI) currently underway by Air Force Materiel Command Gen. Don Hoffman is to determine if the service’s acquisition misstep was an “innocent mistake” or not.
“I can assure if you if it wasn’t an innocent mistake, there will be hell to pay,” Schwartz said.
In a surprising development Tuesday, the Air Force announced its intention to cancel the $355 million Afghanistan LAS contract with Sierra Nevada, which was teaming with Brazilian manufacturer Embraer to supply 20 of its A-29 Super Tucano turbo-prop aircraft to Afghanistan for light ground attack and reconnaissance work. The service previously disqualified competitor Hawker Beechcraft Defense Company and its AT-6 because it didn’t have its proposal in the “competitive range.”
Hawker Beechcraft then protested with the Government Accountability Office, which dismissed the case for not filing a timely protest request, before suing the Air Force in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for “being unresponsive to a request for an explanation as to how it lost” (Defense Daily, Jan. 6).
Following the filing of the lawsuit, the Air Force ordered Sierra Nevada to stop work until the dispute was resolved. Sierra Nevada said previously it was aiming for the April 2013 delivery date for the first aircraft under the contract (Defense Daily, Feb. 17).