Army bases in Hawaii
may get new workers

A new service contract puts the
jobs of 200 civilians in question

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

After a nearly two-year wait, 200 civilian workers learned yesterday that they could lose their jobs at Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter and the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

The Army announced it will award a nearly $60 million service contract to BAE Systems Inc. of Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

The Florida company was awarded the maintenance contract affecting civilian maintenance, supply and transportation workers in October 2000.

But the 200 affected civilian workers protested, saying the Army's in-house bid was $1.3 million less than BAE's proposal.

The Army reversed its decision last January, and BAE filed a protest with the U.S. General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

The GAO ruled in May that what the Army used as a basis for the cost comparison did not clearly state the government's actual requirements.

The Army was forced to revise its requirements in comparing BAE's proposal and an in-house offer.

Col. William Puttmann, Army Garrison commander, acknowledged that the process, which began nearly four years ago, has been "extremely stressful" on the civilian workers.

The workers had taken their case to Democratic U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who noted last year that the U.S. Army Pacific's administrative appeals board found that "errors in cost calculations had artificially inflated the estimated costs of retaining the current civil service workforce and that the cost of keeping the work in-house was about $1.3 million less than BAE's bid."

The Army's newest decision is still subject to a 30-day appeal.

The current civilian employees would be eligible to be hired by the new vendor.