The Army has awarded BAE Systems a competitive $8.8 billion contract to continue managing operations of the Holston Army Ammunition Plant for the next 10 years.
BAE Systems Ordnance Systems has been operating the Holston plant under a 25-year lease that is set to expire, with the Pentagon noting a total of three bids were submitted for the work.
The Holston plant is a government-owned, contractor operated facility that produces RDX, HMX, and IMX explosives used in many DoD munitions.
BAE Systems announced in late July it had teamed with Parsons Corp. in its pursuit of the new Holston operation contract (Defense Daily, July 28).
“Our team is committed to modernizing the Holston Army Ammunition Plant and delivering safe, reliable products for our customers,” John Swift, vice president and general manager of BAE Systems Ordnance Systems, said in a statement at the time.
BAE Systems has cited Parsons’ “engineering ability” as the Army looks to “expand the capabilities for explosives and propellant manufacturing” at the ammo plant and noted that Parsons was recently selected by the Army Corps of Engineers to work on a new Explosive Decomposition Chamber facility at the Holston plant.
Doug Bush, the Army’s top acquisition official, told reporters in November the $106 billion supplemental spending request before Congress includes $600 million to “almost triple” the amount of IMX-104 explosives that can be made at the Holston plant, as the Army looks to continue boosting production capacity for 155mm artillery ammunition (Defense Daily, Nov. 8).