APM LLC Benefits From Air Force Stimulus Construction Contract

(MoneyWatch)  APM LLC is a construction company that has the contract to do site upgrades and other infrastructure work at the U.S. Air Force's Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB) in Ohio. Wright-Patterson AFB is the home of the Air Force's Material Command, several program offices and a good chunk of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The Air Force conducts a good chunk of their basic research at the facility.

As part of the American Recovery and Rehabilitation Act (ARRA) or the "Stimulus" bill passed by Congress in March the Department of Defense received several hundred million dollars to conduct construction and other projects. There has been a discussion of whether this is the best use of the money as DoD is just using it to pay for things that normally would come out of the regular budget. While it may keep jobs going or create a few new ones it really isn't new spending per se.

Another criticism of the process is that in order to expedite the flow of funding the military contracting people have been going sole source or just adding to existing contracts to spend this money. This means that the Government may not be getting the best price and some companies feel left out. One of the ways to justify the sole source is to use minority owned or disadvantage businesses as this helps the Services meet their goals and allows more flexibility.

At Wright-Patterson AFB APM LLC received over $26 million in funding to carry out this work despite the contract supposedly having a limit of about $12 million a year. The Air Force states that the total contract was for five years and $60 million but there is no real limit to how much can be spent each year it will just mean that the contract will end quicker.

Putting the contract out for bid again might be good for the Air Force as it turns out that APM LLC is suspended by eighteen other Air Force facilities from getting contracts and work. This is because the Air Force is investigating the ownership of the company to make sure they meet the minority or disadvantaged ownership rules.

This issue has been a constant problem for both the Government and companies. Sometimes businesses are able to gain work set aside for small or disadvantage businesses through unethical means or just because the contracting process is not done correctly. If there is going to be a pot of money set aside for certain groups there will be those who try to take advantage of it.

In this case the Air Force is trying to spend the "Stimulus" funds as quickly as possible so they are using an existing contract. The company was awarded the contract based on their ownership status which is now in dispute. If the Air Force contracting officials at Wright-Patterson had to wait to award a new contract or use one not necessarily designated for the construction at the AFB it would have added time to the award. In some ways they are stuck between the desire to get it done and also do it completely and ethically.