Up to $124.8M to Air BP for Aviation Turbine Fuel
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Air BP in Warrenville, IL won a maximum $124.8 million fixed-price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel.
Aviation turbine fuel is used for powering jet and turbo-prop engined aircraft. There are currently two main grades of turbine fuel in use in civil commercial aviation: Jet A-1 and Jet A, both are kerosene type fuels. There is another grade of jet fuel, Jet B, which is a wide cut kerosene (a blend of gasoline and kerosene).
The military equivalent of Jet A-1 and Jet A fuel is JP-8, which also includes corrosion inhibitors and anti-icing additives. The military equivalent of Jet B is JP-4, with the same additions as JP-8…
According to GlobalSecurity.org, aircraft fuels can be classified into 4 types:
- Avgas is a petroleum distillate with an approximate boiling range of 95°-330°F. Gasoline type fuels are not used to any large extent in aircraft turbojet and turboprop engines because of poor lubricating properties as compared to kerosene type fuels and because of lead additives that have an adverse effect on aircraft turbine engines.
- Wide cut type (JP-4 and Jet B) fuels are mixtures of gasoline and kerosene distillate fractions with an approximate boiling range of 95°-600°F. These jet fuels are called wide-cut because the kerosene is cut with gasoline and because of the wide range of boiling temperatures. These distillate-type turbine fuels originated in the USA where gasoline fractions were used to supplement the basic kerosene type of fuel.
- Kerosene type (JP-8, Jet A-1, and Jet A) fuels are petroleum distillates with an approximate boiling range of 330°-550°F. In Europe, gasoline was less available after World War II, so these kerosene-based jet fuels prevailed.
- High flash point kerosene (JP-5) fuel has essentially the same characteristics as the kerosene type fuels, but with a minimum flash point of 140°F. This higher flash point fuel is used to some extent in the Presidential fleet aircraft and is required by the Navy for fire safety purposes aboard aircraft carriers.
The original proposal for the Air BP contract was web solicited with 27 responses received by the Defense Energy Support Center, Fort Belvoir, VA (SP0600-10-D-0474). The date of performance completion is April 30/11.
