Design and Engineering Support Program II (DESP II)

The Department of the Air Force Materiel Command awarded Design and Engineering Support Program II (DESP II), a multiple-award Master IDIQ with a $1.9 billion shared ceiling, on October 1, 2004. Ordering closed on June 29, 2012; the vehicle is no longer active. DESP III, the successor vehicle, was awarded January 10, 2012.

DESP II provided broad-spectrum engineering services across any Air Force or DoD system or subsystem, including prototype development, limited production runs, advisory and assistance services, and incidental construction essential to engineering performance. Task orders executed across 314 awards spanning aircraft sustainment, weapons system modernization, DMSMS (Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages) support, supply chain management, and specialized engineering analysis. Pricing structures ranged across firm fixed price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, time-and-materials, and cost-no-fee models. The vehicle was unrestricted; all 314 task orders carried no set-aside designation.

Task-order activity peaked in 2007 at 73 awards, declined to 73, 58, 27, 37, and 1 in 2008–2011 respectively, reflecting the transition to DESP III. Combined potential value was $471.9 million; combined dollars obligated reached $878.3 million, representing 186 percent of combined potential value—a signal that many orders were re-obligated or modified upward beyond initial ceilings. The most recent task order was awarded January 27, 2011.

Five primes captured 57 percent of all task orders: Aerospace Engineering Spectrum LTD led with 79 orders ($68.4 million combined potential value), followed by Dynamics Research Corporation (24 orders, $96.3 million), Booz Allen Hamilton Engineering Services, LLC (25 orders, $51.1 million), BAE Systems Manufacturing Technology Inc. (24 orders, $50.8 million), and Karta Technologies Inc. (28 orders, $20.9 million). By potential value, Dynamics Research Corporation, Aerospace Engineering Spectrum LTD, and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation dominated, collectively holding 69 percent. The remaining 15 of 20 primes held a long tail of smaller awards.

Customer concentration was pronounced: Air Force Sustainment Center drove 214 orders ($278.9 million potential value), representing 68 percent of all awards. Five Air Force Materiel Command subordinate organizations and the command itself collectively accounted for 90 percent of orders. Funding was heavily Air Force–internal; no other federal agency materially participated in the portfolio.

Representative task-order values ranged from under $500 thousand to $19.7 million obligated (FA822205D0004-BZ02, September 2009), with typical orders in the single-digit to low-double-digit million range. Durations varied from six months to multi-year sustainment efforts extending to 2015 and beyond.

DESP II is a multiple award Master IDIQ contract vehicle providing a broad range of engineering services in support of any system or subsystem within the Air Force and other DoD agencies. The contract ceiling amount is set at $1.9 billion. One of the primary purposes of DESP II is to provide the Air Force and other DoD customers with a contract vehicle for engineering services in a fraction of the time normally required for standard contract actions. Although DESP III excludes repair work, it includes the development of prototypes and limited production runs, and can be used for advisory and assistance services. In addition, incidental construction essential to the performance of the engineering service is allowed.