$82B LOGCAP V fight appears to have an end in sight

(NOTE: This story has been updated with comments from companies involved in the contract)

An end to the long-running legal fight over the Army’s potential $82 billion LOGCAP V global logistics contract appears closer than before, though not to the finish line quite yet.

During Vectrus’ fourth quarter earnings call Tuesday, CEO Chuck Prow told investors the company on that same day “was given a lifting of the stop work and an authorization to begin the transition planning aspects” of the contract.

In essence, the four companies with seats on the contract can at least get ready to go for when the protest situation finally settles for good. Officials at KBR and the PAE-Parsons Corp. joint venture confirmed they received the same notice as well.

Colorado Springs-based Vectrus has an elevated interest in proceeding, given that it was one of the two largest winners alongside KBR when the Army awarded the potential 15-year Logistics Civil Augmentation Program V contracts in April of last year.

“KBR is ready to move forward with the transition to LOGCAP V.  We look forward to continuing our long-standing support of the U.S. military by providing mission-critical services in three highly strategic and critical regions," a KBR spokesperson told us in a statement.

Other outstanding items still remain on the legal front even though the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled against three out of four protests on Feb. 21. A spokesperson for Fluor Corp., one of the awardees, referred back to the prior statement given for that most recent story on LOGCAP V.

DynCorp International’s protest over its exclusion is still active but the company had a setback in its fight on Monday when the court denied an earlier request for a temporary restraining order to continue a halt on LOGCAP V work. Officials at DynCorp did not respond to a request for comment.

Vectrus’ Prow told investors that case is due to be concluded “on or shortly after April 10.”

“We're not completely out of the woods yet from the legal processes but we are certainly trending in a very positive way and we really look forward to beginning to work with the government and transition planning,” Prow added.

Meanwhile, Vectrus also reported last year’s revenue grew 8 percent to $1.38 billion with 6 percent of that increase on an organic basis. Vectrus sees sales growing this year between 7 and 10 percent to $1.475 billion-$1.525 billion thanks to a $2.8 billion backlog.

That backlog and Vectrus’ book-to-bill ratio of 0.8 for the year does not include LOGCAP V or other awards under protest.

But if and when that contract gets going, both the backlog and the book-to-bill ratio stand to ramp up.