Eglin AFB, Hurlburt Field and NAS Pensacola slated for over $300M in military contract work

EGLIN AFB — Four construction companies have been awarded contracts that could be worth as much as $300 million over the next five years for work at locations including the Arnold Engineering Development Complex operations at Eglin Air Force Base, according to a recent contract award announcement from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

The work will go to New Orleans-based Healtheon Inc.; Turner Construction Company in Huntsville, Alabama; Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri, and Federal Inc. in Chicago, Illinois, according to the DoD announcement.

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The contract will involve work mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, data systems and controls, and also will include design and construction projects for military ground testing facilities, according to the contract announcement.

In other recent military contracting activity with connections to Northwest Florida, a small portion of the work under a nearly $25 million contract modification awarded to the Bell Boeing Joint Project Office in Amarillo, Texas, to provide flight test support for the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, will be done at Hurlburt Field, headquarters of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). The V-22 Osprey is used extensively by AFSOC.

According to a recent DoD contract award announcement, 5% of the work slated for the one-year contract will be performed at Hurlburt Field, with 70% of the work scheduled for the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Maryland and other work scheduled for Philadelphia and Fort Worth, Texas.

Also slated for Hurlburt Field is a portion of the work under a contract awarded to Leidos, a Reston, Virginia-based defense, aviation, information technology and biomedical contract. The $12.6 million, 12-month contract calls for Leidos to provide engineering services for remotely piloted aircraft operated from Hurlburt Field and from Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, from which AFSOC also operates.

The contract was awarded to Leidos as a sole source for the work, according to the DoD announcement, due to "an unusual and compelling urgency" for the engineering services.

In other recent military contracting involving Hurlburt Field, the installation is scheduled to get 1% of the work under a five-year, $133.6 million contract awarded to Smartronix LLC, a Hollywood, Maryland-based computer technology and engineering solutions company.

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Under the contract, Smartronix will provide ongoing support for command, control, communications, computing and intelligence systems. The majority of the work will be done at Smartronix headquarters, with on-site domestic military work at Hurlburt Field and also at Florida's MacDill Air Force Base; Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and other domestic and foreign locations. Smartronix was the only company to bid on the work, according to the DoD contract award announcement.

On the industry side of recent military contract awards of local interest, more than a third of the work under an $18.8 million contract modification awarded to Rockwell Collins Inc. will be done in Fort Walton Beach, according to the DoD. The work will involve the Tactical Combat Training System, which blends both live and virtual air combat training.

In other recent contracting activity, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) at Eglin Air Force Base recently awarded a four-year, $319 million contract modification to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Orlando, Florida for production of more than 300 extended-range air-to-surface missiles. Work under the contract will be done in Orlando and in Troy, Alabama, according to the DoD award announcement.

The AFLCMC also recently awarded a $17.5 million contract modification to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Orlando for six long-range anti-ship missiles. Work under that contract, expected to be completed by March 31, 2025, also will be done in Orlando and Troy, according to the DoD.

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Elsewhere across Northwest Florida, the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Panama City Division has awarded a $17.2 million, four-year contract to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation in Annapolis, Maryland for sonar maintenance, modifications, repairs, alterations and upgrades, and for work to support currently deployed mine countermeasures used from aircraft. Work under the contract will be done in Annapolis.

Additionally, the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Panama City Division recently awarded a $15.7 million contract modification to Serco Inc., an information technology company headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.

Work under the contract modification will involve the development, integration, testing, and evaluation of prototype "unmanned vehicles, unmanned weapons and unmanned weapons control systems related to mine warfare, amphibious warfare, surface warfare, diving and life support, coastal and underwater intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and other missions in the littoral and riverine environments," according to the DoD contract award announcement.

Also recently, Rolls-Royce Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana, was awarded a $52.5 million contract modification in connection with maintenance, logistics, and engineering support for 210 in-service jet engines used in the T-45 Goshawk jet trainer aircraft, which is part of the fleet at Naval Air Station Pensacola.

According to the DoD contract award announcement, 6% of the work slated under the contract modification, which runs through June of this year, will be done in Pensacola.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Eglin AFB, Hurlburt and NAS Pensacola slated for military contract work