GABORONE, Botswana — The US Africa Command is seeking a logistical contractor to distribute intra-theater military cargo in Egypt and all 55 African countries within the command's area of responsibility (AOR).
In a presolicitation notice issued late last month, the US Army said the AFRICOM Surface Distribution Service (ASDS) requires a contractor to who will provide "secure surface transportation and distribution services" for all Department of Defense (DoD) and supported agencies operating within the AFRICOM AOR and Egypt.
The contract falls under the Common User Land Transport (CULT) support service, which provides for all US military services operating within the African AOR.
"The primary service and objective of the ASDS is to transport intra-theater cargo within the AFRICOM AOR and Egypt. The successful contractor shall provide all necessary resources including logistics support and management to perform surface transport and distribution of general cargo within all the countries (currently 55) within the AFRICOM AOR and Egypt.
"The Contractor shall obtain all necessary licenses and permits required to operate in the applicable ASDS countries and shall comply with applicable laws," reads the main body of the notice, which was posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) register.
Further, the command said despite the fact that Egypt falls within the US Army Central Command operating from Stuttgart in Germany, it will be included in the Africom AOR because it is used as a cargo transit point from the US main base in Djibouti to the North African theater of operations.
"Egypt is in the US Central Command (US-CENTCOM) AOR. However, Egypt is still included in this statement of work because Egypt may have to be transited in some instances during the course of this contract, as Egypt is sometimes used as a regional transfer point for North Africa by some commercial contract carriers," the solicitation notice said.
AFRICOM employs a number of companies that provide ground, air and sea transportation services to the continent and within. Of late, the US has increased its special forces operations targeting terrorist outfits in Somalia and Libya.
In northwest Africa, the US Army provides various logistical support services and intelligence gathering support to the French Army's regional counterterrorism initiative, Operation Barkhane. The command also runs a number of continuing partner army training programs across the continent.
Email: onkala@defensenews.com
