April 15--SAN ANTONIO -- StandardAero has won the 2014 contract for overhaul of T-56 engines for the Navy, regaining a work order the Port San Antonio facility has not had since 2007.
The award makes StandardAero this year's main T-56 maintenance provider for both the Air Force and Navy. The T-56 powers the Navy's P-3 Orion, C-130 Hercules and C-2 Greyhound aircraft.
The contract, for the fifth year of a five-year cycle, is valued at about $25 million, said Dan Gonzales, StandardAero's vice president of business development for government and military.
The previous contract winner was Rolls-Royce Engine Services in Oakland, Calif.
"We're happy that given the current budget constraints and impending sequestration impacts that both the Air Force and Navy find StandardAero to be a best value," Gonzales said.
The Air Force work was awarded in 1999 as a maximum 15-year contract. StandardAero is now in the last year of the contract, and has a bid out for a new contract expected to be awarded later this year.
Like other Port San Antonio tenants that contract with the Defense Department, StandardAero has tightened purse strings amid federal cost cutting. Its current 421-person work force is down about 15 positions from a year ago as the company holds back on replacing workers who resign or retire.
Gonzales said the Navy work would likely be taken on by existing staff.
"If the workload profile rises significantly, we may hire at that time," he said.
StandardAero started out of a garage in 1911 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.It's now headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., and is comprised of 14 service centers. The owner is Dubai Aerospace Enterprises.
A sister T-56 repair facility in Winnipeg was recently awarded a contract renewal by the Canadian Forces as well as a new contract by the Royal Australian Air Force.
Lbrezosky
@express-news.net
Copyright 2014 - San Antonio Express-News
