The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors this week appropriated $8 million to be at the ready to cover the cost of non-competitive purchase orders, as needed, to be paid to 21 identified vendors providing maintenance of, parts to, and repair of the sheriff’s department’s aviation fleet from January 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028.
The earmarked money included half of a million dollars that will be added to the $2 million already laid out for aircraft services being provided by the 21 vendors in the current 2024-25 fiscal year and $2.5 million to go to or potentially go to the vendors in each of the following three years, i.e., 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28.
The board authorized the county’s purchasing agent to issue the yet-unspecified purchase orders in an aggregate amount of $8,000,000, for the period of January 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028, for aircraft maintenance, parts, and repair services to be provided by Meza, Arizona-based ABLE Aerospace; Aero Dynamix of Eules, Texas; Grand Prairie, Texas-based Airbus Helicopter Inc.; Bell Textron, Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas; Dallas, Texas-based Boeing Distribution; Executive Jet Maintenance, LLC of San Bernardino; Murrieta-based Frederick Aero Development; Hangar One Avionics of Carlsbad; Costa Mesa-based Helimart; International Aviation Composites of Haslet, Texas; Corona-based Konecranes, Inc.: Mint Turbines, LLC of Troud, Oklahoma; Van Nuys-based Rotorcraft Support Inc.; Safran Helicopter Engines, USA, Inc. of Grand Prairie, Texas; Sylmar-based Spectrolab, Inc.; Standard Aero Limited of Winnipeg, Canada; Piscataway, New Jersey-based Thales Avionics, Inc.; Trace Aviation of Jackson, Mississippi; Anaheim-based Goodrich Corporation (UTC Aerospace Systems); Vislink Integrated Microwave Technology, LLC of Hackettstown, New Jersey; and Ontario, Canada-based Wescam, Inc.,
In addition, the board approved a contractual arrangement with regard to non-financial general terms and conditions with Bell Textron, Inc., including non-standard terms, for the period of January 1, 2025, through June 30, 2028, for aircraft maintenance, parts, and repair services.
Under normal conditions, governmental contracts involve a competitive bidding process.
According to Sheriff Shannon Dicus, his “department’s aviation fleet requires mandatory ongoing maintenance, repairs, parts, and major overhaul of engines, transmissions, and airframes every 3,000-3,500 hours of use, as required per manufacturer maintenance schedules. All vendors are qualified to perform these aircraft maintenance and repair services. Expenditures may vary per vendor and may exceed $200,000 per instance, depending on the type and frequency of repairs needed. Due to the scarcity of available parts and need for timely specialized services to support the safe operation of the department’s aviation fleet, these purchase orders help ensure the department can procure these specialized goods and/or services when immediately required.”