ANC firms continue battle over $110M Army base support contract
Gettyimages.com/ Jacob Boomsma
By
Nick Wakeman
The Army sided with one of the two Alaska Native Corporations vying for the work, but the service branch's pick was declared unfair.
The battle for a $110 million Army base operations support contract has been a back-and-forth fight between a pair of Alaska Native Corporations and the Army.
The Army picked Chenega Base and Logistics Services for the contract to support Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, Alaska.
Fort Wainwright covers approximately 13,400 acres and has at least 600 buildings. Close to 10,000 soldiers, civilians and contractors work at the base. Another 9,000 family members are located there as well.
Chugach filed a protest in June and then in September, the Government Accountability Office ruled in the company's favor.
GAO found that the Army didn’t adequately document its evaluation of past performance records, nor fully explain how they found risks in Chugach’s proposal.
Typically, that kind of decision sends the agency back to re-evaluate its award decision and further document the rationale.
But the Army and Chenega filed protests of their own immediately following GAO’s ruling. They wanted GAO to reconsider.
GAO denied the request for consideration on Thursday. The Army now will have to implement GAO’s recommendations or notify Congress why it won't, which is rare.
GAO, the Army and the companies are still negotiating a public version of the decision.
While the Army sorts things out, Bering Strait Native Corporation will continue its work at Fort Wainwright through the incumbent contract.