. Winglets installed 2008. Minden Protest, Feb.10, 2014, at 2-3. On December 9, the ASA executed a J&A for the sole-source award to Neptune for two NextGen aircraft (for a 4-year base period with five 1-year options) at a total estimated price of $141,774,740. [1] On November30, 2011, the Forest Service issued request for proposals (RFP) No. at735-36. In accordance with the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA), 31U.S.C. Coulson Aviation (USA) Inc.; 10 Tanker Air Carrier, LLC., B-406920 et al., Sept. 7, 2012. Protests of the award of a sole-source contract for firefighting airtanker services under the industrial mobilization exception to the requirement to conduct a competitive procurement are sustained where the sole-source contract resulted from a settlement agreement in exchange for the awardees withdrawal of an earlier protest and the record does not contain an adequate justification reasonably supporting the agencys use of noncompetitive procurement procedures. It offers OTC Link Alternative Trading System, an interdealer quotation and trade messaging system; OTC Dealer, a real-time, front-end application that provides consolidated quotation, trading, and information system to attract and access market liquidity; OTC FIX, which uses the industry standard FIX protocol for quote submission, trading, and routing of execution reports; and OTC Link Electronic Communication Networks (ECN) that acts as the executing party on an agency basis in relation to transactions executed on the ECN's platform. The determination of whether a party is interested to challenge a sole-source award involves considering, among other things, the basis of the sole-source award. See Tr. Tr. Coulson Aviation Australia currently operates a number of New South Wales Rural Fire Service-owned aircraft andmanages all maintenance and fleet support systems for those RFS aircraft in Australia. Our fleet currently features custom designed Hercules C-130s, Sikorsky S-61 helicopters, Boeing Chinook CH-47 helitankers, Sikorsky Black Hawk UH-60 helitankers, and our custom-converted Boeing 737 FireLiner fleet equipped with our proprietary RADS-XXL technology. We have six 737 FireLiner tankers, each receiving 43,000+ technician hours to become fully compliant and operational. 41 U.S.C. at 5; see York Intl Corp., B-244748, Sept.30, 1991, 91-2 CPD 282 at 4-5 (settlement agreements will not be enforceable if they fail to comply with applicable statutes and regulations). On November 26, the NRE Undersecretary recommended the award of a sole-source contract to Neptune. [2] AR, Tab67, NextGen RFP. AR, Tab31, FI Email to USDA, Aug. 13, 2013, at 1. at 658. During a visit by Skies to the water bomber base at Sproat Lake, B.C., two of the four Hawaii Mars engines were receiving maintenance. Theres no evidence to support the assertion that Neptune would not be able to meet an emergency need for aircraft. This time the air tanker descended two times over the fire zone, crashing at 4:14 pm, while executing the second descent in the Fitzgerald River National Park. [21] FI limited its formal conclusions regarding Neptunes financial viability through the 2016 time period because that is what the SPE requested FI to review. . [37] Moreover, while FIs conclusions were limited to the period through 2017, at no time did the agency conduct any other analysis to determine Neptunes financial viability after 2017. at 67.[4]. By contrast, Neptune did not provide any detail with its cost projections to RUS, so it is unclear if fuel is included, or if government reimbursement is considered. Id. The company will do the same . Your email address will not be published. 31, 1992, 92-2 CPD 29 at 3-4. Accordingly, while the agency contends that the J&A did not rely on the FI financial analysis to assess Neptunes long-term viability, neither did the agency rely on any other information when making such an assessment. Tr. Similarly, when considering alternative sources and the market research regarding such sources, the J&A states that [t]here are no certified [large airtankers] currently available that arent already under contract with the Forest Service. Various internal meetings also took place among senior Forest Service and USDA officials, including USDAs Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment (NRE Undersecretary) and the Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA),[23] in an attempt to resolve the Neptune matter. 41 U.S.C. at 138, 235. After taking on a new retardant load, it took off at 1:50 pm for the second mission. Subsequently, the Forest Service amended the NextGen solicitation and received revised proposals from offerors. Noncompetitive awards should be limited to only what is needed to achieve the objective, in this case to maintain a vital source of supply . The Forest Service considers Neptune to be a vital supplier of airtankers. Accordingly, on June 21 the Forest Service informed the SPE of the settlement agreement that the agency had entered with Neptune, and requested that she execute a justification and approval (J&A) for the sole-source award. Its also the only large airtanker capable of carrying 63 firefighters to a fire without the need to reconfigure the cabin providing support, speed and flexibility to fires. Rather, the record demonstrates, as acknowledged by the agency, that Neptune is presently financially viable and is expected to remain financially viable through the term of its Legacy airtanker contract (2017). Our Office confirmed the withdrawal of Neptunes protest and closed the file without rendering a decision on the protests merits. in order . The SPE made a series of requests of the Forest Service for additional information, including Neptunes financial statements and balance sheets, Neptunes Legacy contract, and documents related to the NextGen procurement. [27] 3304(a)(3)(A) (2006), which provides for a noncompetitive award to a particular source to maintain that supplier for a national emergency or to achieve industrial mobilization. Today, the company's Coulson Aircrane aviation branch still offers helicopter logging but has expanded its ambitious mandate to include power line construction and forest fire suppression. The protesters argue that the agency put the cart before the horse, and agreed to settle Neptunes protest before properly determining that the promised sole-source award complied with CICA. Neptune subsequently protested to our Office on May 16 challenging all of the NextGen contract awards. Shortly after learning that it would not receive a NextGen contract award, Neptune informed the contracting officer of its intent to protest to our Office unless an acceptable solution could be worked out. Further, it offers software, and risk and performance analytics tools for the banking and finance industry; news, compliance, and communications solutions; online capital raising solutions; and OTCIQ, a market intelligence and investor relations portal. [34] AR, Feb. 19, 2014, at 3-7. [34] For this reason, the agency argues, the FI financial analysis, which did not look beyond a 5-year period, was not relevant or relied upon in the J&A. Rather, the record demonstrates that the sole-source contract--promised by the Forest Service in exchange for Neptunes withdrawal of an earlier bid protest--was without a reasonable basis. [33] In fact, the agency acknowledges that [t]he record demonstrates Neptune did not represent to the Forest Service, that it would immediately go out of business without a NextGen contract. AR, Feb. 19, 2014, at 5 (emphasis in original). AG-024B-S-11-9009 for NextGen large airtanker services. In this case, we have a competitive field and recently awarded multiple contracts on a competitive basis to five firms from a pool of eight firms that submitted proposals on the solicitation. Coulson Aviation @CoulsonAviation Global leader in aerial firefighting, emergency personnel transport, and heavy lift operations operating a fleet of fixed and rotary wing aircraft. Previously operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the fast, light corporate jets flew for the past 40 years tracking, detecting and intercepting illegal air smugglers attempting to cross the U.S. border. [7] Although awarded under the Legacy contract, the BAe-146 is a modern large airtanker (Neptune proposed the same type of aircraft in response to the NextGen RFP, albeit with a more advanced version of the fire retardant tank system). at 55, 75; AR, Tab 1, FAM Director Declaration, Jan. 28, 2014, at 5. The NextGen RFP, issued as a small business set-aside, contemplated the award of multiple fixed-price contracts under seven contract line items (CLIN) for airtanker firefighting services on an exclusive-use basis. We find it both premature and unreasonable for USDA to determine that Neptune requires a sole-source contract now in order to maintain Neptune as a source of large airtanker services after 2017. | Overview Coulson . Moreover, Neptune repeatedly informed the Forest Service that Neptune would file a lawsuit against the agency if the agency did not satisfy the terms of the parties settlement agreement. See AR, Tab 54, Contract No. Neptune would undoubtedly prefer the financial security that would accompany a long-term NextGen contract, but this is simply not the standard by which an agency is permitted to make a noncompetitive award for industrial mobilization purposes. Vertical and Vertical Valor are part of MHM Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved 2020 | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. The second Mars aircraft, Philippine Mars, was repainted in 2015 back to its original dark blue U.S. Navy livery; the plan at that time was for it to fly to its final resting place and be preserved at the U.S. In this regard, the agency maintains that it cannot tolerate any further delay in acquiring additional NextGen airtankers for the 2014 fire season. Id. Interested Party Status of Coulson and Minden. Although the aircrafts days as an operational water bomber have passed, Coulsons Hawaii Mars aircraft might take to the air again to provide aerial sightseeing tours and could also hit the airshow circuit one day in the future. [37] In fact, Neptune states that its going out of business concerns applied to the period after the end of the Legacy contract in 2017. OTC Markets Group Inc. was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in New York, New York. AR, Tab54, Neptune Contract No. at 464. A, Neptune Rate Sheet. No definite plans have been reached to date. Here, the Forest Services description in its J&A of its noncompetitive requirements, as well as its consideration of alternative sources of supply, is inaccurate. Prior to OTC Markets Group, he was a trader and portfolio manager at Carr Securities Corporation, an institutional broker-dealer and market maker. Gen. LEXIS 735 at *12. En route to the fires, the aircraft climbed to 29,000 feet (8,800m), before descending to around 700 feet (210m) over the fire zone once. Coulson Aviation Usa doesn't have any recent trademark applications, indicating Coulson Aviation Usa is focusing on its existing business rather than expanding into new products and markets. DOCUMENT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE [24] One such meeting resulted in the Forest Service offering Neptune a smaller sole- source contract (based on a 70-day MAP) that had been approved by the AQM Director. The NextGen RFP required aircraft to have a minimum payload of 2,400gallons, and a target of 3,000-5,000 gallons. [27] The Forest Service issued cure notices to Coulson, Minden, Aero Air, and Aero-Flite in September 2013 for failure to provide approved NextGen airtankers by the contracts MAP start dates. [31] The agency points to the fact that the NextGen contracts include exclusive-use restrictions, such that the large airtankers that Coulson and Minden each already have under NextGen contract cannot also be offered to meet additional agency requirements. We also recommend that the agency reimburse Coulson, 10 Tanker, and Minden the costs of filing and pursuing their protests, including reasonable attorneys fees. As set forth above, agencies are generally required to conduct procurements using procedures designed to obtain full and open competition. 4. In sum, the J&A and its supporting documents, as well as the agencys submissions in response to these protests and the testimony of the agency representatives at the hearing held by our Office, demonstrate that the sole-source award to Neptune was promised in exchange for Neptunes withdrawal of an earlier protest, and that there was not a reasonable basis for the agencys action. 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