PTS Quarterly Update - Q2 2020

The great thing about our global contracting industry is the resilience and creativity of the community in the face of adversity. 2020’s second quarter has been a very challenging environment where individuals and companies have had to adapt and overcome. We have all learned to function in a more virtual environment with social distancing and other safeguards in place. Despite these changes and challenges, the industry continues to move forward. One has to wonder about the long-term impacts of COVID, but for now it is a matter of staying calm and carrying on. 

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COVID Update: Everyone and every business has been impacted by the pandemic, and it looks like the pain will continue. For those operating in the contracting space, the good news is that contracts continue to operate, and the government continues to pay vendors which flows down into the industry. 

Personnel Mindset and Movement: Commercial airports largely remain closed throughout the Middle East, which has stopped the regular flow of personnel for business travel, R&R’s, and mob/demob’s. Some of the prime contractors have been able to arrange commercial charters to move people to and from projects with necessary quarantines on both ends, but for some projects this is not possible. There is discussion that once the commercial airports open, contractors will not fly with general public population but only on controlled charters. This will create bottlenecks compared to the regular flow in the old days. Personnel redeploying to their Home of Record may also experience requirements for quarantine once they do get home. Right now, there is a bulge of candidates who have been recruited and are ready to deploy once the CRC’s and flights open. (Talk to your Contracting Officer about SEC. 3610. Federal Contractor Authority of the Cares Act if you need help retaining key people while this is worked out.  It is up to the Contracting Officer’s discretion.)  Meanwhile, folks in the field are lined up ready to go home. One has to wonder if there is a pent up demob getting ready to happen as employees who have been “stranded” for months will finally be able to go home…will they return? From a recruitment perspective, could this be a perfect storm of a deployment bulge and then an invisible demob happens later this summer? 

Contracts: While operations have been slowed by COVID, it seems that Bid & Proposal activity is going strong with plenty of RFP’s and major programs out for bid. Government contracting shops and corporate BD teams continue to volley RFP’s and proposals which will ultimately result in an operational surge as we head into the second half of the year. 

LOGCAP V: It appears that all legal hurdles have been cleared with a judge dismissing the last protest from DynCorp in June. Transition work is already underway, although most of it has involved planning and virtual assessments. COVID continues to stop the planners and transition teams from getting to ground, so actual physical transitions have not started yet. It is only speculation, but it would be logical to think that ASC would start with IV to V administrative transitions (like KBR to KBR in EUCOM), then other contracts to V transitions (like Vectrus KBOSS to V), then non-hazardous transitions like NORTHCOM and SOUTHCOM, and the finally assess how to do the transitions for the difficult locations like Iraq, Afghanistan, and even PACOM. At PTS, we are proactively building pipelines of shortlist-ready candidates aligned with over 50 labor LOGCAP categories to be prepared to support what should be a surge in requirements for the primes.       

DIPSS: With the base MATOC awarded last year and after several draft Task Orders, the first real Task Orders to come out on this embassy support contract. Most of the 11 primes on the base contract are looking at the "Iraq O&M+" Task Order that would replace the current OMSS held by PAE. Expected shortly behind that will be the Iraq Life Support (ILS) which will replace most of BLiSS, and then Kabul O&M and Life Support. These programs require cleared US management and trades, as well as non-US with ability to obtain MRPT clearances.  

BOSS: The bids for Guam, Kaiserslautern, Turkey/Spain, and Guantanamo Bay have all been submitted and are under some stage of review by the USG. We could expect all of these to be awarded during 2020. There have been recent awards for Annapolis (Naval Academy) and the US Naval Support Facility in Deceselu, Romania, which Vectrus won both. These programs focus on both US and OCN talent focused on skilled trades, engineers, and logistics talent. 

DLA: These Prime Vendor programs require logistics/warehousing talent, customer service representatives, and procurement talent. 

·       Subsistence (Food): Things continue to move slow on the acquisition activity on the OCONUS SPV programs for DLA. Kuwait/Iraq/Jordan continues to operate, but this may come back out due to some legal challenges. Afghanistan was awarded to Anham to continue service. Europe/Africa zones are still under evaluation. Southwest Asia / East Africa was awarded, protested, and the reopened for bid. Korea was put out as a Small Business set aside and is under Source Selection. Japan should be out in the coming weeks. 

·       MRO: On the MRO side, CENTCOM has transitioned into full operations, Korea & Japan MRO are under evaluation, and the AFRICOM/EUCOM RFP's came out in November and are currently bridged while those bids are being evaluated. 

AFCAP V: Since the award in April, there has been heavy Task Order activity on this program to include work in UAE, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Most of these bids have been turned in, and we can expect awards in the coming month or two. Two of these are new missions where the contractor is taking over from the Air Force, so there will be large volumes of hiring required. This contract requires Engineers, Life Support, and Airfield Service personnel. While there are OCN requirements, most require cleared American Nationals. 

Medical: PTS continues to build our capabilities around medical talent for USAID, DOD, and international programs. After a long evaluation period, it is expected that the MSSI (Medical Service Support Iraq) program supporting the Department of State in Iraq will award in the coming weeks. COVID response continues both CONUS and internationally with support requirements from Canada to Africa. These programs will require both US and OCN medical talent to include doctors, nurses, hospital admin, and logistics staff. 

Africa Programs: Task Order season has started on AFRICAP and ACOTA with a strong forecast provided by the Department of State. The original plan to get task orders out earlier in the year seems to be sliding more towards a busy end of FY Task Order season, which will create intense competition among the primes for talent. This can be for former military personnel with training experience in Africa as well as logistics, ISR, medical, and other disciplines across Africa. Of note, there is a new brand in this market with the carveout of SAIC’s Africa programs into a new entity called Sincerus Global Solutions https://sincerusglobal.com. 

Global Defense Reform Program (GDRP): After being awarded in 2019, there has started to be some activity on this multiple award contract.  This could include senior (often retired military) advisors with expertise in areas like security, maritime, military advisory, cyber, and medical disciplines. 

International Stability Operations Association (ISOA): PTS continues to be an active member of ISOA as this community represents the “heart and soul” of the industry. ISOA has done a great job pivoting to a virtual environment with regular webinars on the issues that drive our industry. ISOA also hosted its first ever Virtual Matchmaking event which was a huge success. There are currently plans for an Africa-focused Matchmaking event in early August. ISOA has also recently re-launched a vibrant Small Business committee to deal with topics relevant to our community of small businesses. We encourage you to follow ISOA on LinkedIn https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/stabilityops to stay up to date on the latest events and news. If you are interested in joining, please contact mailto:[email protected]  

Domestic Aerospace and Defense Recruitment:  PTS is extending our core services offering to US based Tier II supplier organizations in the Aerospace and Defense sector.   We have recently partnered with a US based manufacturing organization to provide recruitment services.  The expansion into this market segment is a natural extension of our core capabilities into the critical US military supply chain. 

PTS Bid & Proposal Support: PTS specializes in helping BD teams with finding Key Personnel, securing Letters of Intent (LOI), conducting market-based compensation benchmarking and market intelligence. We have an easy way to engage with your Capture teams to give you a competitive advantage.