LOGCAP V addresses future needs with more participation from contractors

ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. -- Coming changes to LOGCAP promises big modifications to accommodate an Army that is striving to better address global crises while balancing contractor participation in planning and quicker capability of setting up theater operations.

The Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, better known as LOGCAP, is administered by the U.S. Army Sustainment Command, headquartered at RIA. ASC's mission is to integrate and synchronize the delivery of logistical capabilities and enablers at the operational and tactical points of need around the world.

LOGCAP is the U.S. Army's preferred source capability to support global contingencies. This is achieved by leveraging corporate assets to augment current and programmed sustainment force structure.

LOGCAP provides sustainment services to U.S. deployed Soldiers as well as joint forces, non-military federal agencies and coalition forces in locations throughout the world. LOGCAP provides base operations support services such as food; shelter; water; laundry; medical and emergency; construction; maintenance; and Morale, Welfare and Recreation. And, LOGCAP has the ability to build base camps and take them down as required.

The program was critical in supporting medical personnel deployed to control the Ebola crisis in west African nations two years ago. More recently, it provided support in Puerto Rico -- a U.S. unincorporated territory -- to help the 3.4 million people affected by Hurricane Maria, the worst natural disaster ever recorded on the Caribbean island.

LOGCAP V contracts will be capped at $82 billion spanning 10 years, said Jerome Jastrab, project manager, Acquisition Integration & Management Center, ASC headquarters.

It will include seven task order awards to four to six different companies and will expand into areas that previous LOGCAP contracts did not. A final award decision is slated for the December timeframe, he said.

LOGCAP was established in 1985 with the publication of Army Regulation 700-137; its capabilities and performance were based on the concept "contractors on the battlefield."

LOGCAP I was awarded in 1992 to Brown & Root Inc. to support forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Hungary, Saudi Arabia and Rwanda. LOGCAP II was awarded in 1997 to DynCorp International to support forces in the Philippines, Columbia, Ecuador, Haiti, East Timor and Panama.

LOGCAP III was awarded in 2001 to Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) Incorporated, furnishing support operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Djibouti, Jordan, Kenya, Uzbekistan, and Georgia.

Before Operation Iraqi Freedom, LOGCAP III was valued at about $5 million per year. With the growth of U.S. military participation in combat in Southwest Asia, LOGCAP grew to nearly $5 billion per year.

LOGCAP IV was the first multiple-award contract, awarded to three performance contractors in 2008: DynCorp International, KBR Incorporated, and Fluor Corporation, and a single LOGCAP Program Management Office support contractor, SERCO. The performance contracts were awarded as Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity with one base year and nine option years with a contract ceiling of $150 billion.

However, the actual amount obligated for all task orders for LOGCAP IV was $22 billion as of mid-January 2018, according to a LOGCAP program analyst.

LOGCAP IV's use of several performance contractors fostered continual competition to reduce overall costs and enhance the quality of services. The use of more than one contractor reduced the risk of the Army being associated with a single contractor, while broadening the selection of mission resources.

With LOGCAP V, contracts will continue to be an "indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity type contract," Jastrab said. "This is appropriate because you don't know the requirements upfront, which is the case for LOGCAP. Anything can come up from now until the end of the contract."

With LOGCAP V, Jastrab said, the awardees will now have to have the capability to support each Army Service Component Command by becoming part of both the deliberate planning process, and part of the crisis action planning process for unknown, yet-to-be seen needs. In other words, based on past experience, performance contractors will now be able to shorten their response time to provide critical capability gaps, and the ASCC will receive more transparency and predictability for potential costs when receiving LOGCAP services.

The deadline for potential offerors to respond to the LOGCAP V request for proposals was Jan. 22, 2018.

During the last LOGCAP V Industry Day Oct. 24-25, 2017, ASC and the Army Contracting Command-Rock Island offered one-on-one sessions to companies intending to submit proposals as a prime offeror. The event was held off-installation in Davenport, Iowa, just outside one of the arsenal's gates at a nearby hotel.

The event gave ASC officials the opportunity to update industry with technological needs as part of LOGCAP V and get feedback from industry. Needs, Jastrab said, that may seem futuristic such as 3D printing, using drones for semi-autonomous/autonomous aerial delivery, alternative energy, tactical power generation using micro-grid technology, and point of production water operations. What may be cutting edge technologies today, however, will be commonplace five years from now, Jastrab predicted.

Industry Day also served to develop relationships between large and small businesses, providing the opportunity for prime contractors to develop business relationships with potential subcontractors.

Jastrab said the intent of Industry Day was to provide greater transparency with industry, focusing on the new requirements, acquiring feedback, and making adjustments to performance work statements with the end result of eventually acquiring the best offerors capable of providing new, high-tech services when needed.

"One of the best things about LOGCAP V is the responsiveness concept," Jastrab said. "That we're able to start to get an advance team in theater within 72 hours and start ramping up operations right after that."

Historically, LOGCAP was more reactionary in its response to ASCC requirements. However, under LOGCAP V, the performance contractor is now in a partner-like role supporting each ASCC's theater sustainment requirements in the event of a crisis development. The addition of deliberate planning for operational contracting support is the key to increased responsiveness, he said.

Through the combination of the performance contractor being embedded in the planning cycle, and having active performance task orders in each theater, each ASCC will have a 'warm' workforce based there that already understands the theater and how to operate in that theater," he said.

Another important change included in LOGCAP V is the transition to standardized contracting products and processes.

LOGCAP IV largely focused on integrating LOGCAP at the Geographic Combatant Command level, like AFRICOM. LOGCAP V, however, shifts the focus to the Army level as in an Army Service Component Command, like U.S. Army Africa.

As one of the three types of major commands, service component commands are primarily operational organizations that serve as Army components for combatant commands. Some examples include U.S. Army Africa, U.S. Army Pacific, and U.S. Army Central in Southwest Asia.

Additionally, as another approach to improving performance contractor responsiveness, performance contractors will be required to participate in theater planning exercises -- as many as three annually -- lasting four to six weeks. The exercises will consist of a preparatory phase, the actual exercise, and in the end a recap portion to analyze the lessons learned. This provides another venue for the performance contractors to better understand the ASCC sustainment in support of their corporate level planning.

Businesses attending Industry Day were told the awardees will be more than just a supplier of sustainment services to their military counterparts. "They are really partners in theater," Jastrab said. "People are counting on you to execute," businesses were told.

Jastrab said that now and in the months ahead, LOGCAP personnel will be visiting the logistics staff of ASCCs, support operations staff at ASC's seven Army Field Support Brigades, theater support commands, etc., to educate them on what LOGCAP V will now offer so they can use it properly.

In the final analysis, Jastrab said, LOGCAP V builds in transparency, cost predictability, and accountability, based on historical data that can detail the actual cost of each of the specific services provided by the performance contractor. As a result, final cost for future operations can then be consistently predicated using a model in support of all task orders.

"We are focused on giving the requiring activities (the unit) what they need so that we're achieving the required effects, while simultaneously providing the cost transparency and predictability they also want."