Air Force loses DynCorp challenge

The Air Force has lost a bid to keep base operation services at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in-house.

DynCorp Technical Services LLC protested the Air Force's decision not to outsource the services. The General Accounting Office recently decided in the company's favor. GAO recommended that the Air Force award a contract to DynCorp and reimburse the company for the costs of pursuing its protest.

DynCorp was rated the same as the in-house organization on performance and quality, but the Air Force found that contracting out the work would cost $6.5 million more than doing the work in-house.

DynCorp, however, cited 15 errors in the Air Force's cost comparison. Among other things, DynCorp complained that the Air Force in-house organization subtracted the cost of government-furnished equipment from its bid but did not offer to replenish the inventory, as DynCorp did.

The company originally made a protest to the administrative appeal process authority, which decided only partially in the company's favor and found that DynCorp's costs would still be more than $1 million above that of government workers.

The Air Force did not dispute that DynCorp's bid included the cost of government-furnished equipment, but officials apparently believed the service was not responsible for pointing out the difference.

The General Accounting Office disagreed.

"In sum, we find the value of the government-furnished material, which would be provided to either the successful private-sector offeror or the [in-house organization], is a common cost item that should have been deducted from estimated material costs," the General Accounting Office wrote in its recently released decision.