CASE STUDY COMPETITION


How the ammunition enterprise obtained the best


value for the Army’s government-owned contractor-operated small-caliber ammunition plant


by Ms. Kristin Comer, Mr. Joseph DeFino, Ms. Kimberly McCleerey, Mr. Robert Kowalski and Mr. William Sanville


W


ith an estimated value of more than $8 billion, the procure- ment for the production


of small-caliber rifle ammunition and the operation, maintenance and modernization of the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP) in Missouri had to be competitive. It was up to the government to set the stage for a fair and competitive acquisition.


LCAAP is one of eight current government-owned contractor-operated ammunition facilities owned by the Army, and the only one producing small- caliber ammunition for the Army and the other services. Te incumbent con- tractor, Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC, had been producing ammunition


and operating the facility since 1999. In 2005, while the Army was heavily engaged in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, the contract for the pro- duction of small-caliber ammunition at LCAAP was approaching the end of its 10-year period of performance (1999- 2008). Ongoing operations in theater had shifted to stability and counterinsurgency missions. Tis, combined with more pre- deployment training, demanded that the facility produce small-caliber ammuni- tion at production levels not seen since the early 1970s. (See Figure 1 on page 91.)


Te project manager for maneuver ammunition systems (PM MAS) of Program Executive Office Ammunition (PEO Ammo) recognized that it would be necessary to modernize capital


equipment, expand capacity and improve the infrastructure at LCAAP, which was built in 1942, to keep pace with the immediate and unremitting demand for small-caliber ammunition. HQDA supported these actions. Te plant had seen little or no significant modernization in its more than 60 years of existence. Moreover, modernizing the facility would reduce the cost to produce ammunition through greater automation, improved material handling and increased use of information technology.


In August 2005, the Army took its first steps to remedy the situation with an ini- tial investment of more than $50 million to improve the plant, the first installment in what would be a total investment of more than $276 million over the next


ASC.ARMY.MIL 89


CONTRACTING


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