Vertex faces second set of challenges over $485M Navy logistics contract
By
Nick Wakeman
Vertex Aerospace has won a $485.3 million Navy logistics contract twice and is facing challenges from two disappointed bidders for a second time.
The Navy quickly saw an error the first time it chose Vertex Aerospace for a contract that was protested shortly thereafter.
The branch told the Government Accountability Office that it would re-evaluate proposals and make a new bid. That was in June following protests by PAE and DynCorp.
But after that reconsideration, the Navy again awarded the contract for maintenance and logistics for F-5 N/F and F-16 fighter aircraft to Vertex.
This week PAE submitted a new protest to GAO as did DynCorp. It gets a little confusing here. The new protest is filed under the name of AECOM Management Services, which was the business unit AECOM spun out to create Amentum.
Amentum in turn acquired DynCorp in November. So it is still the DynCorp protest, but only under a new corporate entity.
Both PAE and DynCorp/Amentum are arguing that the Navy didn’t conduct a proper evaluation. If the Navy had, then one of them would have won and not Vertex.
The companies filed their new protests on Dec. 7. A decision from GAO is expected by March 17.