There are reports that some potential vendors were very unsatisfied with the changes. 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. Additionally, these aircraft have a unilateral option to extend for an Typos, let us know, and please keep in mind the commenting ground rules before you post a comment. Finally on December 13 they threw in the towel, saying, 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.. Please help us improve by taking a few moments to complete our voluntary USFS Fire Industry feedback form. Thanks for giving us a voice. Bill do you have access to USFS decision makers? Posted by the Forest Service (USDA) . 6-month EU contract extensions for Type 3 helicopters with contracts expiring in 2022, utilizing BOAs for remaining EU line items. Try to pass on the cost of newer more expensive equipment in less than 10 years than the operators fails on the LPTA front. Kinda like the air tankers. On the other hand when your not spending your own money you can afford an almost $25 million firehawk. Todd thanks for chiming in. Todd more well informed insight here. A fixed wing air tanker that has to refill at an airport takes much longer. Base model costs 50k where does the rest go??? Y63 u3e11iQfkbKT?cx6Yi>#/@ G6 6-month Exclusive Use (EU) contract extensions for 34 Type 2 helicopters with contracts expiring in 2022, utilizing BOAs for remaining EU line items. Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. All perpetuated by the Gov. BTW, does anyone flying on fires really need an ELT if they have ADSB? Office: (208) 387-5610 Mobile: (208) 867-5073, Tonya Campbell,Contracting Officer But only when they decide, of course! %%EOF Aye, Laddie. To request access to this page, submit request to FS-FS AQM ISB. Helicopters cost pennies in comparison if you need to cancel them (or nothing if they dont even get off the ground!). Along with Monitormonkey from above. Here is the full text from the December 13 update: The intent of the USFS for acquiring helicopter services for 2022 is as follows: 1. Services include, but are not limited to aircraft purchase and sales; maintenance of fleet aircraft; pilot service contracts . Firewatch Cobra (Bell 209-AH-1) Aerial Supervision Helicopter Very well stated on what most of us are thinking and in the same boat. Aviation Safety. In other locations they would just shrug their shoulders and walk away. Yes, the customer is the FS. A lock ( Civil, Firefighting, News, US Forest Service Most smokejumpers work from late spring through early fall. When the helicopter is in position, the crew releases the water to extinguish hot spots. 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. Imagine that. The U.S. Forest Service announced on October 27 they intend to sign contracts with three companies to add five Next Generation large air . have no assurance they will garner any sort of benefit for their effort. The USFS did not get the number of LATs they assumed they would, I know it shocked them. 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. Let the operators upgrade when if/it will work. Many of us here may not see the inner workings of The Office but we surely do see the end product of some inept folks or folks in the contract office who may not have the fortitude of researching aviation subjects to inform their leadership. Basic Ordering Agreements (BOAs) for 28 Type 1 helicopters having 120-day mandatory availability periods. The what, why and where of this story seems like it warrants additional reporting. 0 USFS Aviation Safety Center FAA Safety Program(SPANS) FAA Risk Management Handbook Aviation Mishap Response Guide(2021) Unmanned Aircraft Systems Agency Guides/Manuals BLM Aviation Library USFS Aviation Library Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations EIS Aerial Retardant Application Information Aerial Application of Fire Retardant Air Navigation There are three primary types of firefighting crews, Type 1, Type 2 IA, and Type 2. 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. _A KWS ranger learning to identify individual elephants. Obviously another FS fella here. endstream endobj 11 0 obj <> endobj 12 0 obj <> endobj 13 0 obj <>stream The U.S. Forest Service (FS) is expecting to contract for 48 Type 1 helicopters for the 2021 wildfire season. FS is gonna end up with a heavy National Guard helicopter fleet next year. 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. If it aint broke, dont try to fix it. SD3-60 Sherpa Avionics Upgrade, Dave Hershey, Contracting Officer Great response, fellas. Light Operational Loads Monitoring Systems (OLMS) 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. 3. The stats are in for the use of firefighting helicopters in 2017. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. (Fire Aviation has requested a copy of the report.). All Standard and Restricted category Type 1, 2 and 3 helicopter contracts awarded under the USFS Type 1, 2 and 3 2022 Multiple Award Task Order (MATOC) Helicopter Support . Maybe in talking to a 3rd party lender the FS would learn more about these challenges that industry is facing due to the well intended, but poorly delivered solicitation requirements? Talking to the local authority of that Bush Fire area- depending on the rainfall it will wipe out watersheds roads Cell phone gps location, sat phones and ADSB are far more useful. On the other hand it seems in our world it is more important that Im not happy until youre not happy seems to rule. National Pilots Local Small Business Specialist National Maintenance Agreement Robert Hoffman , Contracting Officer Office: (208) 387-5681 Mobile: (208) 866-1610 National Call-When-Needed Helicopters (Large Fire Support/Initial Attack) Flight Rate Charts Effective February 16, 2021 for contracts awarded 2013-2017 The U.S. Forest Service (FS) is expecting to contract for 48 Type 1 helicopters for the 2021 wildfire season. The blackhawk will not replace the 212 because it cant, and a regular category S-70 would have to bid three or four times the price of a 212 to make financial sense even if you could get a 4 year EU contract. These contracts require continuous availability throughout the mandatory availability period, which can be 180 days or more. This change will be a double edged sword..as operators cannot meet requirements or afford changes they will shut their doors and then already limited resources will be permanently removed for fire. So this all begs a question how do we bridge the gap here? Today the U.S. Forest Service announced the contract awards for 48 Type 1 helicopters. Everyone agrees that the military needs to be adequately funded, but in 2016 the amount the U.S. spent on defense was almost equal to what the next 14 countries combined spent. One thing Ive been dealing with, Rep. Mike Simpson said, are the aviation assets of the Forest Service Are we going to have a clear outline for the next 10-year plan for what the Forest Service needs in terms of air assets? 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. Type 1 helicopters are frequently moved around depending on fire danger and incident activity and are often not at their home base. I do not know of any small operators who can afford to buy new ships, if any are even available. So a one year contract with each additional option year at the discretion of the agency with unreliable congressional funding is not a concept that makes potential vendors feel all warm and fuzzy. Your last sentence in 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? The list this year includes what has become their standard in recent years, 28 ships, plus an additional 20 surge helicopters. 2021. The FS would gladly issue multi-year contracts (vs. base year + options). What replaces the 212? Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) Support We all understand that. Well not quite, imho. If as you suggest they can choose to not submit a proposal then two things are going to happen: 1) that aircraft will not be part of the AFF fleet next year and 2) you will have less a/c in the future b/c of it. Woodbury was in 2019. With the twin engine requirement would a K-Max also be DQd? Its unimaginable that they have created a situation where its likely there will not be a sustainable source for fire aircraft. Melinda Draper, Associate Branch Chief, Logistics, Your input allows us to recognize outstanding service and also provides a tool to address areas of industry concern. As a former helitacker I know we were always looking forward to moving to a more modern helicopter fleet. The USFS cooperates with CAL FIRE, US Department of Interior agencies Bureau of. Maybe in talking to a 3rd party lender the FS would learn more about these challenges that industry is facing due to the well intended, but poorly delivered solicitation requirements? Things like long term stability, Banking considerations and finance never enter into the Governments equation. Todd more well informed insight here. Incident Procurement Modernization Team Member. If you like warm beer, buy a FS refrigerator. helicopter services hourly flight rates, fuel consumption, and weight reduction chart effective february 16, 2019 for contracts awarded 2018-2021 (cwn/exclusive use) Yes, the customer is the FS. We live near Custer S.D. There is no cost, and in case you change your mind each email has an unsubscribe button. Why are only Types III and II legacy helicopters being phased out? 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. In 2016 the FS hired 34 Type 1 helicopters but starting in 2017 reduced the number to 28. Forest Service and interagency publications are the primary vehicles by which Forest Service and Interagency policy and standards are transmitted. National Maintenance Agreement, Robert Hoffman,Contracting Officer 2. (A source in D.C. told us there is a chance the legislation will include a fix to the fire borrowing fiasco, where funds are taken from other functions to pay for wildfire suppression.). They just laugh at us.. All the UTFs for rotors can get name-tied back to a few individuals at NIFC. For senior high and older readers. Air resources were cancelled at the Forest level, isnt that correct? Little to no way to sock away money for these required upgrades to bid on the contract. . 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. There are only 2 options and they are well in to the 10s of millions of dollars. Who will buy a 206, 407, etc besides AG guys? People will write their Congressional Reps and lowly GS grade bureaucrats will get mushroom stamped for creating an untenable contracting environment that leads to a massive shortage of rotors when homes are burning. 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. Heat Wave DB109505 12 hours 52 minutes by TJ Klune read by Michael Lesley . Meanwhile, the defense of our Homeland gets cut. 2023 us forest service airtankers - schedule of items (mar 1, 2023) next generation airtankers 2.0 I think stating more aggressive firing operations is suitable for the Bush Fire, right- sir? Carson said the hell with the USFS, more money servicing the war machine in Afghanistan. Fire camp infrastructureand Incident Command Post (ICP) is a location at which primary command functions are executed. Give me a break. I am trying to figure it out each Fire Season how to keep men and women safe You want a loud hailer, fork it over. I also think your comments are short sighted on Bills pandering to industry. There is no cost, and in case you change your mind each email has an unsubscribe button. Airtankers Have a fire aviation news tip? 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 FS requirements are out of synch with the financial obligations of the companies they want to hire. >> EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS. Once we get all of that figured out, turns out that the increase in performance specifications at 7,000 / 30C combined with the added equipment pretty much eliminates legacy ships from meeting performance requirements.
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