The Hunt Pinnacle building and development group has formally expressed interest in taking over the failed American Eagle housing projects at Air Force bases in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and Massachusetts, reports the Associated Press (via El Paso Times). Lawmakers have sharply criticized the Air Force for its handling of the situation that affected privatized housing developments at Hanscom AFB, Mass., Little Rock AFB, Ark., Moody AFB, Ga., and Patrick AFB, Fla.—and for selecting a housing developer with a history of problems. An amendment to the Fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill sponsored by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) directed the Comptroller General to report on housing privatization developments that had fallen behind schedule or were in default, asking specifically for information about the history of such companies. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) met with Air Force officials last week to discuss the situation at Moody and called the session “a productive discussion” in an April 10 statement. Kingston said of the decision by Hunt Pinnacle, “The ball continues to inch forward, and, while I wish we were moving in yards rather than inches, the forward motion is better than where we were before.” Hunt Development, an El Paso, Tex., company, has developed and managed many of the military housing privatization efforts, including about 35 percent of USAF’s projects, according to Kingston.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.