How a $1.2 Billion Winner Came Up One Simulator Short
Aero Simulation won the Air Force's C-17 training task order, watched three rivals protest it away, and got excluded from the do-over for counting a simulator whose motion legs had been removed. GAO decided that on July 31. The page where you would read it printed it on Thursday, alongside seven other decisions running as much as 86 days behind.
Eight bid protest decisions landed on GAO's public page between Wednesday and Thursday. Seven of them went against the protester.
The one worth your morning is Aero Simulation, B-424444, and it is about a company that already won the work once.
In April 2024 the Air Force issued solicitation FA862124RB002 to holders of its Training Systems Acquisition IV vehicle, unrestricted and small business pools both. Aero Simulation won the resulting task order, worth $1.2 billion.
Then CAE USA, NOVA Technologies and FlightSafety Defense filed protests, and on May 5, 2025 the Air Force told GAO it would take corrective action by canceling the solicitation outright.
"What does a term you asked about, and never got an answer on, cost you at the gate?"
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The specific solicitations, dockets, and dates to act on sit past this line.
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