usfs type 1 helicopter contracts 2021

I also assume that the CO just channeled the PM and HSs needs for the program. Cost Code Equipment Specifications Capacity or Size HP Notes Unit 2021 Rate; 8010: Air Compressor: Air Delivery: 41 CFM: to 10: Hoses included. The ultimate goal is to drive out the independent operator entirely so they can justify owning their own fleet. Do any of you FS boys understand how capitalism works? Just need to add, Mama told me the customer is always right. I believe the FS had about 6-9 nationally funded HLCO platforms in order to provide aerial supervision to these surge aircraft but this year? Publications are distributed through hard copy print, web pages, mobile device applications, and other digital media. If we have an aircraft on the market that give us a better margin of safety in the high and hot environment the USFS works in why wouldnt we pursue it other than money? Some of these folks need to spend 20+ yrs like some us did in the aviation maintenance and everyday flying to expend this much energy to get vendors spooled up and then say there is not enough time. We really love being on Team USFS. Aye, Laddie. HMS8:A[>!Leq`dXfgo$av`w*ldevq7mXm`F,s}PA.?|ZA[7lY7z rCXB:Y;M7\c>]-kFt^j1_>ey)4?haGUEX5M7IW? xt*9b`w,$$B.vc&8Hx.Yjf9N3 |B^gW?.n}tZ8 Exactly. See Full Story. The idea of one year contracts is just one characteristic of a contracting process that lacks experience, maturity and common sense. At the beginning of the 2017 western fire season there were 20 large and very large air tankers on EU contracts plus two water-scooping air tankers. Office: (208) 387-5670 Mobile: (208) 616-5547 Have a fire aviation news tip? Im not convinced that either trying to do an abrupt transition is appropriate NOR is standing still while other more modern aircraft are available. mudslides will come erosion. Erickson Incorporated announced three new USFS Firefighting contracts for the upcoming 2021 wildfire season. Chinas new amphibious air tanker conducts ground test of water drop system, More rotor wing help arrives in California, Lockheed looks ahead to advancing capability in wildland firefighting, Aerial Firefighters Association to promote safety, standards, innovation, Coulson tanker down in Western Australia, pilots okay, Helicopter crash kills 2 in Chilean fires. My look and details are just that- my perception. No.thats what happens when you have cradle to grave beuracrats (who havnt a clue about running a business) in charge of doling out federal dollars. Todd more well informed insight here. Just more bureaucratic nonsense,and incompetence form the USFS. That wind yesterday has me in a sinus pressure headache today. She saidUp to 30 additional Type 1 helicoptersare on Call When Needed contracts, which includes the six that no longer have EU contracts. %PDF-1.6 % Fire fighting tools, food and water are dropped by parachute to the firefighters after they land near the firemaking them self-sufficient for the first 48 hours. Aircraft Purchases: Todd Novinger, Contracting Officer 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. Aircraft Type: DC-10. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Access to these sites is restricted and the information and files provided through these sites is not intended for general disclosure or distribution to anyone other than Authorized Government Representatives and solely for the purpose of facilitating the performance of their Official Duties with respect to their administration of these contracts. In March, 2017 when it was revealed that the six helicopters were being cut, U.S. Forest Service spokesperson Jennifer Jonesexplained the agencys rationale: At this time, the agency has determined 28 to be the appropriate number of Type 1 helicopters on EU contracts given current types and numbers of other aircraft in the fleet. Maybe the PM, HS and the CO should talk to some a/c financing companies to better understand the reality of upgrading or buying new equipment. I would be interested to see more reporting on why the USFS is making this transition now and how they made the decisions. With the twin engine requirement would a K-Max also be DQd? 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. U.S. Forest Service employees (Forest Service Internal Link), U.S. Department of Interior (DOI Internal Link). Today the U.S. Forest Service announced the contract awards for 48 Type 1 helicopters. . When I feel less crappy and can give this the focused attention I will write more. Thank you. 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. What about the forty plus miles along the highway- was that part of the aggressive initial attack or the aggressive firing operations? Jeffrey McGinley, Associate Branch Chief, Aviation Look at the LATs this year. Federal Contract Opportunity for National Exclusive-Use Type 1 and Type 2 Helicopter Modernization SN-2021-01 . It will be going through clearance in a matter of a few days and it will be getting to the committee here shortly. In addition the Logistics Branch provides procurement support for eleven National Cachesfor wildland fire suppression and prevention, as well as other emergency incident response activities. Imagine that. Hopefully it wont be used to often but should the need arise its great to have one right here locally to answer the call. NIFC Operations (Photographer/Videographer Services), Chris Kirk,Purchasing Agent One big caveat to last year is that there will be ZERO dedicated HLCO platforms available as there were last year. Besides the cost for the new equipment will be passed on the FS through the increase in Daily Availability rates. Basic Equipment Requirements: Each piece of equipment has a minimum required equipment inventory that must be on the equipment at the time of hire. Examples include an ax or pulaski, tire chains, 5-person first aid kit, and rollover protection. They can typically carry 700 gallons of water or retardant via a bucket or a snorkel that fills an internal tank. LGBT Themes. Response from industry-leading? Nap time seems more like it versus getting too much into Fire Season 2021 and my thoughts. usfs type 1 helicopter contracts 2021. The intent of the USFS for acquiring helicopter services for 2022 is as follows: 1. They requested to remain anonymous in order to avoid retribution from the agency. contract # manager/admin base/phone tanker/ac type/ n # iab approved tank size map days estimated map start estimated map end day off daily av rate hrly ft rate (dry) . 2. The U.S. Forest Service (FS) is expecting to contract for 48 Type 1 helicopters for the 2021 wildfire season. Coulson pilots in Chile are aided by translators in the cockpits, Erickson converting an Air-Crane to haul military cargo without a pilot in the cockpit, Lockheed looks ahead to advancing capability in wildland firefighting, Aerial Firefighters Association to promote safety, standards, innovation, Coulson tanker down in Western Australia, pilots okay, Helicopter crash kills 2 in Chilean fires. Plate 1. How the five and ten year contracts youre looking at will affect us and benefit us and what we need to put into our budget to so that the Forest Service has the necessary equipment to address these wildfires?, We are studying the question about going to a 10-year contract, what the pros and cons are, Chief Christiansen said. Were nearly complete with that report. 6-month EU contract extensions for Type 3 helicopters with contracts expiring in 2022, utilizing BOAs for remaining EU line items. usfs type 1 helicopter contracts 2021. by | Jun 10, 2022 | championship wrestling from florida dvd | wheeler middle school staff | Jun 10, 2022 | championship wrestling from florida dvd | wheeler middle school staff Although I dont know if this counts as a legacy platform. In addition, the federal land management agencies said last year they were going to limit the number of less-than-full-suppression fires and attack new ignitions aggressively. 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). They will tell you they have their smerfs.SMEs ( who typically are cradle to grave beuracrats as well), who are supposedly dialed in on the subject matter surerightlmao 34 0 obj <>stream In 2016 the FS hired 34 Type 1 helicopters but starting in 2017 reduced the number to 28. There is obviously some back door dealing going on with this RFP as it very specifically pushes money to certain equipment providers and tips the hat to certain helicopter companies. They claim that 2 times throughout the 1/9 year parent contract, they will allow onboarding of new vendors/equipment. The agency felt the surge helicopters were necessary to mitigate a possible decrease in the effectiveness or numbers of their ground forces engine and hand crews. There was a big demand for the S-61 (w/Carson Blades) along with a call for both pilots and mechanics in Afghanistan on High dollar US Gov. Provides support to both the Aviation and Logistics Branch Chiefs Well, maybe in some locations. Click here. Vendors do not drive the requirements the customer does. The Call When Needed (CWN) Parent Contract is a 1 year with 9 option years contract, with Exclusive Use (EU) contracts being bid *through* the parent contract for 1 year with four option years. Things like long term stability, Banking considerations and finance never enter into the Governments equation. Typos, let us know, and please keep in mind the commenting ground rules before you post a comment. Putting more undue pressure on vendors to meet their misunderstanding of both FW and RW aviation. Too busy feathering their own nests and grade-hopping they couldnt care less about the program at large. Puuuullleeezethe Agency surely has gotten a response. In September an article on Fire Aviation about this current presolicitation included an opinion from the vendor of a Type 3 helicopter who requested to remain anonymous in order to avoid retribution from the agency. Y63 u3e11iQfkbKT?cx6Yi>#/@ G6 I may be incorrect in this, but I think the less than excited response from industry is based on them providing questions and input to the PM, HS and CO and getting pretty unsatisfactory responses. A CWN aircraft could be tied up on something else or undergoing heavy maintenance when the phone in the office rings asking if they can respond to a fire. Hopefully it wont be used to often but should the need arise its great to have one right here locally to answer the call. A series of water drops can enable hand crews to make steady progress on active flanks of the fire. As a former helitacker I know we were always looking forward to moving to a more modern helicopter fleet. Like in 2020, this solicitation has the unusual provision of limiting the 20 surge contracts to the participants of the existing Forest Service Type 1 Basic Ordering Agreement. If any of those folks everrrrrr knew what it takes to run a rotary operation. The arrogance and dismissal by the FS with most questions being answered Noted, Language will remain as written just adds frustration to irritation. They are all tied to contractors in the business. The FS will still have the 28 exclusive use Type 1 ships; the additional 20 will serve a mandatory availability period of 120 days, with a possible option for another 30 if the FS determines a need. 2023 us forest service airtankers - schedule of items (mar 1, 2023) next generation airtankers 2.0 Hows about an STC for personal electronic devices, only available from one company, nobody else in the industry even knows what the hell the STC is or is for! Samantha Roberts, Zoological Society of London [ TOP ] Plate 42. Today the U.S. Forest Service announced the contract awards for 48 Type 1 helicopters. Modular AirborneFirefighting System (MAFFS) Mechanics Well, maybe in some locations. CO Support on all major contract programs (Mobile Food Services, Mobile Showers, Type 2 & 2-IA Crews, Retardant Chemicals), Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) Alternate Focal Point . These helicopters are the largest that are used for fighting wildfires and can carry between 700 and 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant. The USFS has determined there is not enough time for an adequate response from industry, a complete evaluation by the government, and ultimately timely award prior to the start of 2022 mandatory availability periods. Nada! Your input allows us to recognize outstanding service and also provides a tool to address areas of industry concern. Its unimaginable that they have created a situation where its likely there will not be a sustainable source for fire aircraft. Office: (208) 387-5681 Mobile: (208) 866-1610 _A KWS ranger learning to identify individual elephants. Aviation Safety. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Is that some new type of aggressive attack? That means NO helitack, NO rappelers, ONLY flight crew and bucket work. february 16, 2021 for contracts awarded 2018-2021 (cwn/exclusive use) (for contracts awarded 1/1/2018 and after) company aircraft type fuel consumption (gal/hr) february 16, 2021 hourly flight rate ($/hr) Cradlepoint, Inc. (Data Communications Products & Services) PADD20210466. >> EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS. You want a loud hailer, fork it over. In 2018 when the Forest Service began issuing one-year contracts for air tankers we wrote: Few if any vendors can simply write a check to purchase and convert an air tanker, so they have to convince a lender to give them large sums of money usually even before they have a contract with the USFS. The FS will still have the 28 exclusive use Type 1 ships; the additional 20 will serve a mandatory availability period of 120 days, with a possible option for another 30 if the FS determines a need. Obviously another FS fella here. Senator Mark Kelly may be interested in hearing comments about FS & DOI aircraft contracting: Steve Peterson, Contracting Officer Little to no way to sock away money for these required upgrades to bid on the contract. In addition, the federal land management agencies said last year they were going to limit the number of less-than-full-suppression fires and attack new ignitions aggressively. Base model costs 50k where does the rest go??? One vendor said new requirements could reduce the number of helicopters on contract. Faintly, what are the advertisement you see posted on this site? 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. 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. There is no cost, and in case you change your mind each email has an unsubscribe button. So this all begs a question how do we bridge the gap here? IBC's Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD) is responsible for the acquisition of a full suite of commercial aviation services supporting each bureau in the Department of the Interior, as well as many external customers. Bill would rather not take his private industry advertisers $$$, but he should and needs to get paid for the hard work he puts in and he knows you Government boys cant/wont pay him to tell the truth. Melinda Draper, Associate Branch Chief, Logistics, usfs type 1 helicopter contracts 2021 . Official websites use .gov It doesnt matter what we say if we dont pay the price , the US Forest service only go and hire the Canadians to do our job. As this is being written, the politicians we elect to represent us in Washington are trying to put together a last minute (literally) federal budget that will keep the government from shutting down again tonight. Due Nov 16, 2020. Large Jet Transport We all understand that. Your last sentence is the the nail in the coffin.seeing as that this contract will be LPTA and a year to year option, how do you finance a new a/c that will surely be $2-$4M on the low end? NIFC Janitorial What happens when they implement it towards Type Is? sparked by a US Forest Service prescribed burn is the state's largest wildfire. Carson said the hell with the USFS, more money servicing the war machine in Afghanistan. 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. Lots more. Several vendors opted for EU contracts with states instead of the USFS. in the Black Hills between Custer and Hill City and having one of these is a much needed and necessary thing especially given the dead and down Pine and Spruce trees from the Bark Beatle infestation we suffered through. Okay, what is the best way to answer that question of yours *** , How about-Actually allow aggressive initial and extended attack, including effective air support and reasonable and responsible firing operations. And CWN aircraft cost the government much more to operate than EU resources. Certainly valid concerns regarding the quantity of helicopters to transition and timeline. Fire camp infrastructureand Incident Command Post (ICP) is a location at which primary command functions are executed. . The ICP may be co-located with the incident base or other incident facilities and provides certain essential auxiliary forms of support, such as food, sleeping areas, equipment, trailers,and sanitation. 19th ave apartments phoenix, az. A current helicopter solicitation that is now paused was offering 1-year contracts. As I indicated, Im very interested in more reporting on this from the customer side of the table, IE the USFS as well as industry. Helicopters can often refill with water from a nearby lake or tank, making 5 to 15 minute turnarounds. Office: (208) 387-5609 Mobile: (208) 616-5550 usfs type 1 helicopter contracts 2021. So wed be glad to discuss more about air tankers. Basic Ordering Agreements (BOAs) for 28 - Type 1 helicopters having 120-day mandatory availability periods. Typos, let us know, and please keep in mind the commenting ground rules before you post a comment. The U.S. Forest Service (FS) is expecting to contract for 48 Type 1 helicopters for the 2021 wildfire season. USFS to contract for 48 Type 1 helicopters this year. https://www.kelly.senate.gov/, I think many of us do understand the contracting world and the pages put out by the head shed. The FS will still have the 28 exclusive use Type 1 ships; the additional 20 will serve a mandatory availability period of 120 days, with a possible option for another 30 if the FS determines a need. A nod to newer technology. The number of requests for Type 1 helicopters was close to average, but the number of orders that were Unable To be Filled (UTF) was almost double the number of filled orders. Let the operators upgrade when if/it will work. The schedule calls for most of them to begin in April and May. Large Airtankers (LATs) can deliver from 2,000 to 4,000 gallons of fire retardant to support firefighters on the ground. The Woodbury Fire overhead were told to let it go, isnt that right, SCC? 3833 S. Development Avenue All the experienced aviation folks leading the latest helo RFP need to know that what youre proposing will lead to less a/c and more accidents/deaths. These helicopters are the largest that are used for fighting wildfires and can carry between 700 and 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant. Interested vendors must get their offers to the FS by March 3, 2021. I think you answered your own question with why are they only replacing type II and III legacy platforms and not type I? Maybe all of the experienced aviation folks you mention are part of this have never actually had to buy a multi-million a/c, maintain it, crew it and ensure that its safely operable? 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. Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. In other locations they would just shrug their shoulders and walk away. 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!! . I can see daily availability rates sky rocketing, which it sounds like is expected. What year was this pic taken??

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