Request Denied

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims today upheld an Air Force decision to proceed with the production of 20 light-attack aircraft for the Afghan military following a brief court battle with a spurned contractor.

Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said in an April 19 statement that the court chose not to grant Beechcraft Defense Co. a stop-production order on the batch of planes, the production of which have been delayed by more than a year due to a previous dispute between Beechraft and its competitor, a team of Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) and Brazil's Embraer. Beechcraft filed its lawsuit against the Air Force last month after the service awarded SNC and Embraer a $427.5 million contract to build the aircraft. The lawsuit was an effort by Beechraft to halt the aircraft build until the Government Accountability Office weighed in on a bid protest that the company filed earlier this year.

Beechcraft spokeswoman Nicole Alexander said in an April 19 company statement that Beechcraft had “reluctantly” accepted the court's opinion and planned to continue to contest the contract award through GAO.

Gulick said that the Air Force has a “critical and time-sensitive commitment to provide air support capability to the Afghan Air Force” and must therefore proceed with production. “The Court of Federal claims heard arguments today on Beechcraft Defense Company, LLC's challenge to the Air Force's decision to override the automatic stay of Light Air Support (LAS) contract performance,” he said. “The court granted the Government's motion for judgment on the administrative record and denied the motion for declaratory relief filed by Beechcraft. Sierra Nevada Corp. will continue work on the LAS contract while Beechcraft's bid protest proceeds at the Government Accountability Office, which will decide the merits of the protest.”

GAO has until June 17 to decide on the protest.