11/4/2010 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Defense Department officials have awarded a $315 million one-year contract with a one-year option to the London-based Mina Corp. Ltd. to supply 96 million gallons of jet fuel to the U.S. Transit Center in Manas, Kyrgyzstan.
The Transit Center in Manas, near the capital city of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, is a key part of the Northern Distribution Network, a series of commercially based logistic arrangements connecting Baltic and Caspian ports with Afghanistan via Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus region.
The contract is worth $630 million over two years if the option is exercised. The first delivery under the contract to the Transit Center will be no later than Feb. 1.
"The core logistical requirement for the Transit Center is fuel," said Derek Mitchell, the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs.
Mina Corp. was awarded the last fuel contract in August 2009 as a sole-source contract for national security reasons.
After the change in Kyrgyz government in April, the Kyrgyz provisional government asked U.S. officials to re-examine the sole-source contract, and officials determined the national security concerns requiring a sole-source contract no longer existed, a Defense spokeswoman said.
In response to the continued fuel requirement for the Manas Transit Center, the Defense Logistics Agency's energy supply chain officials issued a solicitation for a requirements fuel contract June 9.
U.S. officials amended the solicitation in September to allow for a secondary contract award that would make it possible for other fuel suppliers -- potentially including a Kyrgyz state-owned supplier or an international joint venture -- to provide up to 50 percent of the fuel.
In April, the House Government Reform Committee's subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs began a formal investigation into allegations that contracts to Mina Corp. to supply fuel to the Transit Center substantially enriched family members of then-Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev, who was ousted from office April 7.
The investigation is ongoing.
A DOD spokeswoman said today that DOD officials have no information about Mina Corp. that would preclude awarding a contract to the company.
"It is a priority of the United States to ensure a secure, reliable and uninterrupted supply of fuel to the Transit Center to enable us to sustain our critical operations in Afghanistan," Mr. Mitchell said. "At the same time, we recognize the importance of a fuel contract process that is publicly transparent and fully in compliance with U.S. and Kyrgyz laws and regulations."
