Being told to shut up and color indicates a less than collaborative environment and makes Gov employees who work for top down leadership, pretending to be the military. The blackhawk will not replace the 212 because it cant, and a regular category S-70 would have to bid three or four times the price of a 212 to make financial sense even if you could get a 4 year EU contract. THEN where would we be, with 13 tankers and an even shorter list of CWN resources. Obviously another FS fella here. One has to write to the audience who butters their bread! But they wont tell us when they are doing that, just that as we bid on EU work within the CWN contract eventually they are going to want modern helicopters. And, I dont begrudge the higher fees for CWN aircraft. Along with Monitormonkey from above. In December, 2017 the US Forest Service cancelled a five-year EU contract it had issued the previous year for two CL-415 water scooping air tankers. With the expiration of contracts for firefighting helicopters looming, the US Forest Service began the lengthy process of issuing new contracts for 2022 on July 7, 2021 with the posting of a presolicitation. The new concept was based on a one year contract. Look at the LATs this year. Western Fire Season Milder than Previous Devastating Years We averaged the daily and hourly EU and CWN rates for three models of air tankers provided by three different companies, BAe-146 by Neptune, RJ85 by Aero Flite, and C-130 (382G) by Coulson. Once we get all of that figured out, turns out that the increase in performance specifications at 7,000 / 30C combined with the added equipment pretty much eliminates legacy ships from meeting performance requirements. They requested to remain anonymous in order to avoid retribution from the agency. Maybe they could have figured out a better transition, maybe not. Aye, Laddie. They claim that 2 times throughout the 1/9 year parent contract, they will allow onboarding of new vendors/equipment. E-mail: ghill@ahsafa.org, Neptune Aviation Services and Northstar Air operating helicopters under call when needed contracts. If the trend toward call when needed contracts continues, costs may increase, Snyder cautioned. If this order is for the USFS then ABS will be the method of payment. . No wonder there is absolutely no concern about the financial impact of this proposal. firefighting, said Josh Beckham, General Manager of Helimax Aviation in Sacramento. I know we arent alone in how upset we are with the Forest Service right now. Sounds like a great schedule to buy a next gen helicopter. The USFS intends to make parent awards Summer/Fall 2022, with task orders being competed/awarded after parent awards. Give me a break. For information about WHB and ACETA Contracts please contact Jeanhei Christy, Contracting Officer at 208-433-5019. The S-70 could work but again, at what cost? necessary to hire more personnel and purchase additional aircraft, if needed. That means NO helitack, NO rappelers, ONLY flight crew and bucket work. We often see some activity in Construction: Involves the construction, alteration or repair (including excavating and painting) of buildings, structures or other real property. The biggest issue overall is that this contract is a prerequisite for our other federal and state work such as state fire and wildlife survey, etc. Forest Service says there's not enough time to issue new helicopter The following submittal procedures are covered in this guide: Incident Accruals FS Hired Casual Pay (AD Employees) Preseason Incident Blanket Purchase Agreements (IBPAs), Emergency Equipment Rental Agreements (EERAs), Land Use Agreements (LUAs) National Crew Contracts For the fixed wing tankers, the USFS put only 13 aircraft on exclusive use contracts this year, Services are members of AHSAFA, the Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing the privately If you knew just one thing about contracting it may help. Yes, the customer is the FS. Financing a new (2000+) aircraft with a one year contract will be the nail in the coffin for most operators considering what they have to sell will get pennies on the dollar. Contract Vehicles - U.S. FEDERAL SOLUTIONS, INC. enough work for an additional helicopter, he stressed. How about awarding bid points to the bidders, which convert to costs paid by the organization hiring the aircraft, for those things that a joint committee feels may be potential benefits to the basic mission of air attack or supression missions. The only modern type III helicopter we can find that meets the requirement is $6.4m which is triple the value of our 5 type III helicopter fleet (and we own a Type III light twin, its just too old for the Forest Services liking). for proposals (RFP) from the Forest Service. The States contracted for Fed approved airtankers so just like we all share resources like engines and shot crews now we can share airtankers too. In preparation for next years fire season, Helimax, which AHSAFA | American Helicopter Services & Aerial Firefighting Association The Q&A period is a nicety, but rarely ever provides valuable responses to industry. PDF Fillable Forms must be downloaded to your computer, you can then open them up in your Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat software to fill them in and save. has three avionics mechanics, plans to increase that number by eight for field repairs, Beckham year is prompting some aerial firefighting companies to add resources, assuming that future fire events already pre-positioned two helicopters to Red Bluff, California, in case of an emergency this late in Well said Maghreb.sadly, doing so would guarantee financial disaster/bankruptcy for the industry while also ensuring that the country and its citizens in fire prone states would be without helos for many more years than just one season.I do love the idea as it would send a message for suremaybe a few calls to the White House make sense here? There are two costs for air tankers daily plus hourly. largest to date. There are reports that some potential vendors were very unsatisfied with the changes. Without a federal contract, we cant get carded and without cards, we cant work for the state. I dont think Forests pay for daily availability anymore? Imagine that. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS We had no indication that these fire events would happen so late in the year, until we got an Cell phone gps location, sat phones and ADSB are far more useful. Thats discouraging as it suggests that the customer really isnt listening and just providing the perception of doing so.your point of just not choosing to submit if an operator doesnt like it is incredibly insensitive and uninformed. So do we get balanced journalism here. Detroit may be headed for a tumultuous labor showdown. Id guess many of them follow your websites, but if not and you have access to them, it would be good to alert them to the commentary here on this pageif anyone else feels strongly negative about this, chime in!! The obvious answer is same thing the US Military replaced the Hueys with, the Blackhawk. Little to no way to sock away money for these required upgrades to bid on the contract. Western Fire Season Milder than Previous Devastating Years The companies willing to make adjustments will do just that and end up with contracts. For an operator to be competitive in the LPTA world, you need to amortize the cost of the a/c over 10 years or more. I think many of us do understand the contracting world and the pages put out by the head shed. Nobody should bid, then when everything is on fire and the USFS comes begging then youd have some leverage on them. Aerial Firefighters Responding As Widespread Fires Scorch Much Of The FWS procures goods and services in support of this mission. The 2017 average daily rate for large federal call when needed air tankers is 54 percent higher than aircraft on exclusive use contracts. These proposed contract changes have made working for USFS impossible for most all operators especially restricted categories that will all be phased out when the new 2000 or newer requirement takes affect. We try to Typos, let us know, and please keep in mind the commenting ground rules before you post a comment. far, any downtime for the helicopter has involved replacements of timed out life-limited parts. management and natural resource protection. This would be an issue, especially when Contracts & Commercial Permits | US Forest Service If a vendor doesnt like the requirements, they can choose not to submit a proposal. People will write their Congressional Reps and lowly GS grade bureaucrats will get mushroom stamped for creating an untenable contracting environment that leads to a massive shortage of rotors when homes are burning. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification. They are all tied to contractors in the business. The FS is certainly aware of Mr. Gabbert who has reached out to public affairs folks within the agency on numerous occasions. These changes are going to put operators who have worked hard for generations, who have tirelessly jumped through USFS hoops for years out of businessthat is a crappy government thanks, with costly and unnecessary changes as the final slap in the face! The reason your seeing all the blackhawk bucket ships is because you can buy a milsurp bird for less than 2$ million and be flying on a fire for less than 5. Why dont they use air support when the fire first starts. However, he What a crock of crap! customer sets a rate paid for each hour the airplane is flying on a fire. Fire Procurement U.S. Forest Service Contracting Region 6 Fire Contracting Operations: Redmond Air Center 1740 SE Ochoco Way Redmond, OR 97756 Kevin Toombs, FAM Program Specialist - Contract Operations 541.419.7039 Kevin.Toombs@usda.gov Aaron Olmos, Contract Operations Specialist 541.610.3674 Aaron.Olmos@usda.gov Vendor Resources: We prepare for a worst case scenario, and were always ready to support the fire Saylor called the 2018 fire season an above average year for assignments to fires. 3. Sadly, this is just another reason why operators will have to get out of the fire fighting business or send the aircraft to other countries where they will actually be treated like the critical assets that they are. fires. We can only hope the upcoming DOI on-call helicopter RFP due out later this year isnt so crazy. This year, however, the USFS issued more call when needed contracts, in which a day rate, plus a fee per flight hour is paid only for the duration of the assignment, which could be as little as one day. The Agencys incompetence and self sabotage never fails to amaze. I agree. helicopters in winter maintenance when CAL FIRE asked for help. PDF National Mobile Food Services Contract - US Forest Service Livingston. If it aint broke, dont try to fix it. Privately operated aerial firefighting companies quickly went into a rapid attack mode on the day that If they find gainful employment elsewhere, they may not be available. The EC135/145 have potential, but at what cost? day, he said. Naturally, this makes no economic sense. As a former helitacker I know we were always looking forward to moving to a more modern helicopter fleet. At that time, three of our BAe 146s were going through heavy checks, and five others were on Here is an excerpt: This draft Request for Proposal is such a massive and violent change from what has been requested in previous contracts that most operators arent going to be able to handle it. Solicitation No. You want a loud hailer, fork it over. 6-month EU contract extensions for Type 3 helicopters with contracts expiring in 2022, utilizing BOAs for remaining EU line items. Thats rarely happened before b/c a) its a lot of $$$ and b) the states also believed that they would get aerial resources when needed, but they got burned by that hope, literallyyou may think you can grab it, but think again in tough times.State will think about State first before sharing the resource.it will get more interesting when France, Spain, Greece and Turkey take these assetssleep well FSyou guys are managing the LATs and Type 1s welltheyll always be there for you.keep up the good workwell done. Contracting. You have to love the obvious FS sycophants on here making contemptuous, defensive and specious arguments. Oregon-based companys President of Commercial Aviation. Region 6 - Contracting - US Forest Service The Washington Nationals are close to an extension with general manager Mike Rizzo and have agreed to a contract extension with manager Davey Martinez, reports The Athletic.Martinez has signed a . If the FS or DOI wants collision avoidance, fine but its gonna cost them. If multiple aircraft are being ordered, or they are ordered within reasonably close timeframes of each other, one submission of the form to neighboring dispatch offices or to SACC is appropriate. for us to work on fires as late as December and January. will be equally frequent and devastating. Why are only Types III and II legacy helicopters being phased out? I would be interested to see more reporting on why the USFS is making this transition now and how they made the decisions. Aircraft and Pilot Carding | NWCG Its four remaining tankers have subsequently come under call when needed contracts. use contracts, and one each under contact with San Diego Gas and Electric, the City of Los Angeles Fire Here is what they wrote. Try to pass on the cost of newer more expensive equipment in less than 10 years than the operators fails on the LPTA front. That year the FS also reduced the number of Type 1 helicopters on EU contract from 34 to 28 and cancelled a solicitation for up to seven large air tankers, citing a lack of funding. What can replicate the performance of a UH-1H with a -703 as a bucket bird? Calfire is seeing right now how much NOT an upgrade they really are and how they are just too big for some things. unexpected phone call from the US Forest Service (USFS) on the morning of November 8, asking if we had The USFS did not get the number of LATs they assumed they would, I know it shocked them. Supply: Furnishing of a commodity, product or equipment. Time management skills and Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance is not a skill this outfit excels in.time to get back to timber management and master THAT, if thats possible before trying to re write contracts.maybe this outfit needs to hire some of us aviation professionals to assist the other professional mechanics and pilots on the USFS staff.surely they could assist in helping the contract office in being more realistic, First off its not the contracting office that is being unrealistic. He replied: The existing Call When Needed (CWN) Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) will be utilized for both Type 1 and Type 2 CWN helicopters. A huge number of exceptionally destructive, back to back wildland fires throughout the western US this So given these facts, what do you think they are trying to achieve in ultimately reducing the number of a/c in a time when we need more of them? Strike authorization votes are a routine part of contract talks and are often overwhelmingly approved, but Fain said the vote is a sign of the union's strength. of the Camp Fire prior to the CAL FIRE request, so we made a preemptive move to recall our pilots in Air Attack Fixed Wing / Type 3 Helicopters: DOI On-Call Contract or USFS Regional Call When Needed Contract. What replaces the 212? They essentially want a Sky Crane to do a Jet Rangers job. If needed, the GACCs will be able to make mid-year corrections and publish a new version for all . One thing Ive been dealing with, Rep. Mike Simpson said, are the aviation assets of the Forest Service Are we going to have a clear outline for the next 10-year plan for what the Forest Service needs in terms of air assets? Most of the air tankers that are needed have to be EU, and should have contracts with 5 guaranteed years with 5 optional years. Other candidates would be the 412, and the other twin engine mediums on the market from AW and Airbus/Eurocopter. With the twin engine requirement would a K-Max also be DQd? A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. As a former FS aviator I can confidently say that every single FS Aviation Officer from the WO to the ROs needs to be fired or reassigned. While adding a helicopter to its fleet might be viewed as an option, Livingston explained it would be a Yeah, we are all fans of quick, effective air attack. Buying a/c is a lot like buying a house. flying for over a month on the Car Fire, one of the states most destructive. aircraft in those areas, he explained. USFS Chief issues statement about air tanker availability - Wildfire Today Certainly valid concerns regarding the quantity of helicopters to transition and timeline. the ramp in Missoula, covered with snow. Dan Snyder, Chief Operating Officer, of Neptune Aviation Services in Missoula, Montana, reported that Please contact [email protected] or call 888-707-5814 (M - Th 9 am - 5:30 pm and F 9 am - 3 pm. Chief Pilot for the USFS, Abraham Fandrich, retires, Ride with a single engine air tanker as it drops near Borger, Texas, Q&A followup on the new airtanker contracts, $7.2 billion contract award for airtanker services, Mid-air collision on SoCal fire kills three, International Association of Wildland Fire. There are certainly concerns with moving to a twin engine platform related to performance, and Im not currently versed enough in all of the platforms to have an opinion, but I do know that this article doesnt address it and instead seems to be a sounding board for industry without presenting the case for increased firefighter safety and performance in modern aircraft. CA legislators call on Newsom to give state workers a raise | The Stay with this system until resource is "RELEASED FROM GOVERNEMNT CONTROL", no matter how many reassignments take place to other land ownerships. However, multi-year contacts must also include an aspect of a cancellation ceiling which must be funded up front. Just more bureaucratic nonsense,and incompetence form the USFS. that since early April, four of the companys bucket-equipped CH-47D helicopters worked on fires mostly So given that the PM and the HS are both aviation folks, this means that they have certain goals that they are trying to achieve given the shape that the Solicitation is taking. GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Management Consulting Data Analytics Financial Management Acquisition Management Technical and Administrative GSA One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) 8 (a) Pool 1 Program Management Management Consulting DO NOT listen to your bosses, DO THE RIGHT thing and pull this RFP back and get it rightMILLIONS of U.S. citizens are expecting that you will. Give us folks in the field a little credit for the same credit you so richly deserve. Get over it. I would like to see more exclusive use contracts, so we could dedicate more of our fleet to We really love being on Team USFS. Unfortunately your assumption is incorrect, the program manager has several years experience in aviation operations and the Helicopter Specialist is one of the best around and also has several years of experience. In 2019, the last time Local 1000 negotiated a contract, the union and the state reached an agreement on Aug. 29 two days before the fiscal committee deadline on Aug. 31. This change will be a double edged sword..as operators cannot meet requirements or afford changes they will shut their doors and then already limited resources will be permanently removed for fire. in that area of Southern California. Contracting | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Even if a vendor received a guaranteed five-year contract it can be difficult to establish and implement a long-term business plan that would make sense to their banker and the solvency of the company. The U.S. Forest Service, the agency responsible for awarding federal contracts for large air tankers and firefighting helicopters, is proposing a number of very significant changes to the helicopter contracts. Such costs could be spread out over the period of the contract. season. AWARD/EFFECTIVE DATE 4. until we dispatched the helicopter to the Camp Fire, the maintenance issue delayed us only two The USFS will continue to review and refine the Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) solicitation. 6-month Exclusive Use (EU) contract extensions for 34 Type 2 helicopters with contracts expiring in 2022, utilizing BOAs for remaining EU line items. Pacific Northwest, under exclusive use and call when need USFS contracts, according to Keith Saylor, the that in recent times fires can occur in California any time of year and we prepare for that. Maybe they could have figured out a better transition, maybe not. Some were as far away as Florida. Portland, Oregon-headquartered Columbia Helicopters deployed a fleet of six helicopters, mostly in the Yes, defending our homeland is an expensive program. We all understand that. flew out of Missoula at the urgent request of the California Department Of Forestry And Fire Protection The administration and Congress need to understand that an air tanker program CANT have wild, crazy swings from year to year, cutting the fleet by one-third.
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