Boeing

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing a $750,000 contract for a seven-July study on how to privatize aircraft maintenance work, thereby reducing costs to the government, at the Sacramento Air Logistics Center at McClellan Air Force Base, Calif. The Boeing contract was one of two awarded by the Air Force.

Work on the contract will be carried out by a team headed by the North American Aircraft Division of Boeing North American, Inc., with support from two other divisions: Communications and Combat Systems, and Autonetics and Missile Systems. Also supporting the study will be key members of the Boeing Newark (Ohio) Air Force Base privatization team. Newark was the first depot to be privatized; missile maintenance functions there became fully privatized in October 1996.

For the McClellan work, Boeing has assembled a team of key subcontractors who bring broad experience to all phases of aircraft maintenance.

The Air Force has asked the two study contractors to review requirements for taking McClellan's aircraft maintenance work private and to submit proposals for the next phase, known as the maintenance phase, by September 1997.

Boeing has appointed Dave Fujii of North American Aircraft Division (NAAD) as director of a new business unit, McClellan Aircraft Services, to head the Boeing team's privatization work at McClellan. Fujii previously was director of New Business Development for the division. Jim Brunke, also of NAAD, has been named program manager for the study contract. He previously was director of Integrated Logistics Support. Keith Dumas, formerly executive director of McClellan Air Force Base, will serve as executive advisor to McCellan Aircraft Services.

Commenting on the study contract award, Fujii said, "Boeing and its team members bring decades of aircraft maintenance experience to the task of privatizing depot maintenance work at McClellan. And we have been examining the issues involved in privatizing in place at McClellan for almost a year and a half now.

"During the study period, we will refine our ability to deliver the maximum benefits offered by privatizing in place. Those benefits will take the form of top-quality, low-cost work for McClellan's aircraft maintenance customers as well as retention of jobs and payroll -- positive economic effects for the McClellan workforce and the larger Sacramento community."

Here is a list of key subcontractors:

Name and location:

• Moog, Torrance, Calif.
• Parker Bertea Aerospace, Irvine, Calif.
• Pemco Aeroplex, Birmingham. Ala.
• Rockwell-Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
• Science Applications International Corp., San Diego, Calif.
• Sundstrand Aerospace, Rockford, Ill.
• Thompson Saginaw, Saginaw, Mich.
• Vickers, Jackson, Miss.
• USCO, Naugatuck, Conn.