Air Force Delays Next Step in Ecuadorian Counterdrug Site Project

Posted by Stephen Peacock - December 20, 2005 at 11:05 am
The U.S. Air Force once again has delayed finalization of its counterdrug Forward Operating Location (FOL) modernization and expansion project. Yesterday the agency issued a memo announcing that its long-awaited FOL Request for Proposals (RFP) is being delayed, despite completion of contractor “industry visits” to existing FOLs in Manta, Ecuador, and Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. The FOL Program Executive Officer (PEO) currently is reviewing the RFP, Air Force Contracting Officer Ralph Westphal said in the memo. The agency will not release the formal request for bids until the PEO approves this critical document, he said: “Please bear with us as I know this procurement is extremely important to all potential offerors.” Westphal gave no further explanation for the delay of the document’s release, which was anticipated for this month.

Back in May, the U.S. government began “market research” of potential suppliers, representing one of the first steps toward launching this current expansion and modernization endeavor. Immediately prior to an October gathering of industry and government representatives, the Air Force issued an urgent notification to cancel that trip, deemed necessary by “possible civil unrest” related to ousted Ecuadorian President  Lucio Gutiérrez’ return to his homeland. However, the agency quickly rescheduled the Manta FOL industry day
.

This project appears to be separate, at least in terms of contracts, from another program to expand an Ecuadorian Aero Police counterdrug site in that nation’s Pinchincha province.

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About Stephen Peacock

I'm currently a high school English teacher and writer. I'm also a former Washington, DC, journalist, having worked for Communications Daily and Washington Internet Daily (WID), investigative newsletters that cover the telecommunications, broadcast and Internet industries. Following the 9/11 attacks, my news beat expanded beyond Capitol Hill telecom/TV/IT policy and began to include technology-policy coverage at the Pentagon and Dept. of Homeland Security. I've written over a thousand articles about government and industry affairs, and I'm pleased to say that I was the reporter who broke the story about the Total Information Awareness surveillance/data-collection initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. I've written articles for publications including NACLA Report on the Americas, Drug Enforcement Report, Corrections Journal, and The Tampa Tribune. I've also written a memoir about my former career as a plainclothes security officer of the Helmsley Palace hotel in New York City, Hotel Dick: Harlots, Starlets, Thieves & Sleaze.
http://jerseysandstorm.blogspot.com/
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About Stephen Peacock

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http://jerseysandstorm.blogspot.com/

Biography
I'm currently a high school English teacher and writer. I'm also a former Washington, DC, journalist, having worked for Communications Daily and Washington Internet Daily (WID), investigative newsletters that cover the telecommunications, broadcast and Internet industries. Following the 9/11 attacks, my news beat expanded beyond Capitol Hill telecom/TV/IT policy and began to include technology-policy coverage at the Pentagon and Dept. of Homeland Security. I've written over a thousand articles about government and industry affairs, and I'm pleased to say that I was the reporter who broke the story about the Total Information Awareness surveillance/data-collection initiative of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. I've written articles for publications including NACLA Report on the Americas, Drug Enforcement Report, Corrections Journal, and The Tampa Tribune. I've also written a memoir about my former career as a plainclothes security officer of the Helmsley Palace hotel in New York City, Hotel Dick: Harlots, Starlets, Thieves & Sleaze.