DEFENSE POW/MIA ACCOUNTING AGENCY (DPAA) Papua New Guinea Helicopter Requirement

The Department of Defense United States Transportation Command, on behalf of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), is seeking rotary-wing aviation support services for missions in Papua New Guinea. The contractor must provide personnel and cargo transport, emergency medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), and mission planning support across four geographic regions of Papua New Guinea, including northern highlands, eastern areas, eastern islands, and Bougainville Island. Key qualifications include certification as a commercial air carrier meeting DOD Instruction 4500.53 standards and Commercial Airlift Review Board (CARB) certification, with achievement required within 180 days of award or the contract will be terminated. The procurement is structured as a Request for Information (RFI) for market research purposes; interested contractors must submit responses by March 18, 2026 at 12:00 P.M. Central Time, with questions due by March 11, 2026. The anticipated contract award is scheduled for on or about March 1, 2027, and responses should be limited to 10 pages, excluding cover letters and title pages, submitted via email to the designated points of contact.

No set-aside designation applies to this procurement. The contractor must provide three helicopter types: a light utility single-engine aircraft (Eurocopter AS350 or similar) with at least five passenger capacity, and two twin-engine variants with nine and twelve passenger capacities respectively (MBB/Kawasaki BK117 and Bell 212 or similar models), with minimum 400-kilogram cargo sling load operations capability. The base contract period runs from July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2028, with four 12-month renewal options and one 6-month extension option, supporting up to three missions annually lasting 14 to 90 days each. Pricing will be structured as firm-fixed-price for standby charges, actual flight hour charges, and actual fuel costs based on commercial refueling facility prices. Required insurance includes $200,000 per-passenger liability, $10 million aircraft public liability, and $25,000 cargo liability. The anticipated NAICS code is 481211 (Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation) with a small business size standard of 1,500 employees, and no specific award value or budget range is disclosed in the pre-solicitation materials.