Two battle to remain in White Sands range competition
By
Nick Wakeman
Incumbent Trax International and AECOM's URS Federal business are fighting back after being eliminated from the competition to support the Army's White Sands Missile Range under a $360 million contract.
Two companies are fighting back after being eliminated from the competitive range in a competition to support the Army at its White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Trax International filed its protest on Oct. 2 and AECOM’s URS Federal Services business submitted on Oct. 29.
The Army is running a competition for mission support services such as operations, maintenance, research and development, engineering, and other support.
Trax is the incumbent on the current contract, which is valued at $360 million.
While GAO generally bundles protests together when they involve the same contract, sources have indicated to me that Trax and URS are raising different issues so they’ll be treated as separate decisions.
The Trax decision is due Jan. 11 and URS’ decision is due Feb. 6.
On a personal note, I have not been to the White Sands Missile Range but I have been to the adjacent White Sands National Monument. If you ever have a chance to go out that way, stop. No hype, it is a natural wonder.
The sand is so white you think you are in the middle of fresh fallen snow. In fact, people even bring toboggans to slide down the huge dunes. The dunes were created over eons of erosion as water washed the gypsum down from the mountains.
I’ll spare any more tourist talk but it really is a magical place.
But below is a YouTube video on the missile range and what’s going on there.