Personnel Requirements

INCUMBENTS WERE PERFORMING CONTRACTS FOR THE ARMY Oil Analysis Program (AOAP) when the Army Contracting Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, solicited bids in August 2001 to continue the program effective December 2001. Separate contracts were contemplated at Forts Bragg and Drum, and Hunter Army

Bid opening was delayed twice to avoid restrictive requirements and to accommodate a wage agreement at Fort Drum. The NTC Group, Inc., (NTC) was the effective low bidder on the three proposed contracts. The performance work statement (PWS) of each contract required NTC, within 10 days of award, to submit a list of employed personnel including laboratory supervisor, evaluator, technician, monitor/instructor, etc. The contracts included standard delay and termination clauses.

In November 2001, after bid opening, NTC tried to hire certified technicians from at least a dozen federal locations with an e-mail attaching a job announcement for AOAP technicians, evaluators, trainees, clerks, and drivers. The Fort Lewis incumbent AOAP lab chief forwarded the job announcement to the manager of the Fort Bragg lab with the comment "this is the kind of stuff they are doing behind our backs... stick together."