US Customs will use a helicopter to replace solar equipment on Mohawk Mountain

The battery bank that supplies power to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) owned Tactical Communication site at Mohawk Mountain in Mohawk, Ariz., is beginning to show signs of failure. To avoid a complete site failure, CBP’s Office of Information Technology along with other agencies working with CBP are planning to replace the solar equipment.

Mohawk Mountain is in a remote location that requires helicopter transport for access by personnel and delivery of all materials, supplies, tools and equipment. Given the nature of the allowable work space and approved location for installations, the site has no additional staging area to support concurrent delivery of removals and installations. All deliveries are anticipated to be completed by single point lifts using a single hook up and single set down as no release or drop lifts are anticipated.

CBP is looking for a contractor to supply a helicopter to lift tools, equipment, and personnel up to the remote site that is located at Mohawk Mountain (Latitude 32.5900, Longitude - 113.6479). All lifts will be from a predetermined staging area or forward operating base (FOB) that will be used as the meet up location for transportation to and from the remote site and as the hook up location for all loads. The FOB is anticipated to be located at the following location: Marker Beacon 35 (Latitude: 32.605222, Longitude: ---113.773417). The FOB is accessed via a dirt road from Interstate 8. The contractor’s fuel truck is expected to park daily at FOB for refueling. Should the FOB change, it is anticipated that the location will not vary more than five miles away from the predetermined location. Local air restrictions may apply and will be the responsibility of the contractor to become familiar with local air restrictions and potential no fly zones/times. The contractor should note the site is mountainous where topography and winds can be highly variable an may impact approach vectors.

CBP will coordinate pre-clearance through the Barry M. Goldwater Range restricted airspace R-2301 and will inform contractor of any special transit procedures.

Multiple airlifts, of different payloads, will be required throughout the duration of the project to transport removals and installations to the remote site. The anticipated flight schedule is presumed to be four personnel flights (i.e. two in and two out) plus three to five flights for tools and equipment per day during Site Prep Activities and Site Clean Up activities.

The Period of Performance under the contract is anticipated to be a total of 32 days to complete all required meetings and performance objectives for helicopter lift services. The anticipated start date of helicopter lift services is Oct. 28.