SPECIAL NOTICE
R -- Contemplated Sole-Source Contracts for a Competitive Assessment of Cooperative Agreements in Transatlantic Airline Markets, and Recommendations for Future Analysis and Monitoring of Transatlantic Airline Alliances
- Notice Date
- 12/27/2011
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary of Tranportation (OST) Procurement Operations, OST Acquisition Services Division, 1200 New Jersey Ave, Washington, District of Columbia, 20590
- ZIP Code
- 20590
- Solicitation Number
- DTOS59-12-R-00303
- Archive Date
- 8/17/2012
- Point of Contact
- James H Mowery III, Phone: 202-366-4959, James H Mowery III, Phone: 202-366-4959
- E-Mail Address
-
james.mowery@dot.gov, james.mowery@dot.gov
(james.mowery@dot.gov, james.mowery@dot.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- FEDBIZOPPS SPECIAL NOTICE REQUEST SUBMISSION OF STATEMENTS OF QUALIFICATIONS TO REVIEW A STUDY ( Competitive Assessment of Cooperative Agreements in Transatlantic Airline Markets ) AND PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE ANALYSIS AND MONITORING OF TRANSATLANTIC AIRLINE ALLIANCES HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY: On a SOLE-SOURCE basis, the U.S. Department of Transportation ("USDOT"), Office of the Under Secretary for Transportation Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs, Office of Aviation Analysis, plans to award four separate but closely related sole-source Purchase Orders (or Delivery Orders, or other contract-types) to John McCulloch, Jan Brueckner, Robert Willig, and Volodymyr Bilotkach, for services which will be provided by each of those persons to USDOT in connection with the review of a study ("Competitive Assessment of Cooperative Agreements in Transatlantic Airline Markets" or "Empirical Study"). And, under those contemplated SOLE-SOURCE Purchase Orders, those four individuals will also provide, to USDOT, recommendations for future analysis and monitoring of transatlantic airlines alliances. The unique qualifications possessed by each of those four persons are described below in this Special Notice. BACKGROUND: In 2008, the European Commission's Directorate General for Competition ("DG COMP"), in close cooperation with USDOT, commissioned a confidential quantitative analysis, conducted by an outside scholar, on the topic of transatlantic airline alliances. That study utilized confidential USDOT data to analyze the price and traffic effects of code-sharing and alliances between the U.S. and Europe and was the first comprehensive study to use these data. Airlines whose data were included in the analysis provided waivers to DG COMP for the use of these data for this project only. Since the completion of this study, there have been a number of structural and operational changes in the global airline industry which have implications for transatlantic passenger air travel. Among these changes are the merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines (in the U.S.) and approval by USDOT of the alliance between American Airlines, British Airways, and Iberia. It is critical for policy impact analysis in general and for alliance monitoring in particular to evaluate and assess the use of this study by USDOT. In addition, a review of the study's findings by uniquely qualified individuals in the context of the changing industry environment will ensure credibility. JOHN McCULLOCH's QUALIFICATIONS: John McCulloch is uniquely qualified to participate in the proposed project, on a SOLE-SOURCE basis, given his extensive experience as an executive with an allied airline and as part of the management team of one the major transatlantic alliances. Mr. McCulloch was Managing Partner (CEO) of oneworld alliance Management Company based in Vancouver, Canada from 2003 to 2011. In that role, Mr. McCulloch was Chair of the Management Committee of the airline representatives of the oneworld alliance, responsible for overall strategic planning, brand management, governance, sales, marketing, customer experience, joint procurement, and IT infrastructure, among other responsibilities. The oneworld alliance is one of the three major global airline alliances and includes such leading global carriers as American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan Airlines and Qantas Airways. Previously, Mr. McCulloch held various executive positions with Cathay Pacific Airways. Because he is no longer employed by an airline or an alliance management group, he will able to provide a unique and unaffiliated assessment of the Empirical Study and its practical use by USDOT in alliance research and monitoring. US DOT believes that its intended SOLE-SOURCE awardee, John McCulloch, is the only entity capable of providing an unaffiliated experienced practitioner assessment of the Empirical Study and its use in alliance monitoring and future research, thereby assisting USDOT in fulfilling its responsibilities under 49 USC § 41309. Moreover, USDOT believes that John McCulloch is uniquely qualified to serve as the coordinator (or leader) of the project, because he possesses extensive experience as a leader of a global airline alliance. In that leadership role, Mr. McCulloch has worked with many different internal and external consultants on issues related to alliance management and monitoring as well as compliance with USDOT alliance reporting requirements. That experience positions him best to serve as the coordinator or leader of a group of independent reviewers. JAN BRUECKNER's QUALIFICATIONS: Jan Brueckner is uniquely qualified to participate in the proposed project, on a SOLE-SOURCE basis, given his extensive research record related to airline alliances. Since 1985, Dr. Brueckner has published more than 25 articles related to airline alliances and competition and presented his work at multiple conferences. He has been quoted by the press in articles related to airline alliances and competition, served as a reviewer for multiple journals, and served as the special-issue editor for Transportation Research Part B's 2010 special issue, "Economic Analysis of Airport Congestion". His previous consulting experiences with airlines, including Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, as well as with the Star Alliance, have given him particular insights into alliances and their operations. Moreover, Dr. Brueckner's recent research has expressly examined the use of carve-outs, which is a particularly important issue given the differing views of carve-outs held by USDOT and the Department of Justice. Specifically, Dr. Brueckner explored the competitive impact of using carve-outs within grants of antitrust immunity and tentatively concluded that the incentives for collusion in the inter-hub market are no different between the pre-alliance situation and an alliance subject to a carve-out. US DOT believes that its intended sole-source awardee, Jan Brueckner, is the only entity capable of providing an academic assessment of the Empirical Study and its use in alliance monitoring and future research, given the use of carve-outs as a remedy for competitive concerns, thereby assisting USDOT in fulfilling its responsibilities under 49 USC § 41309. ROBERT WILLIG's QUALIFICATIONS: Robert Willig is uniquely qualified to participate in the proposed project, on a SOLE-SOURCE basis, given his extensive research record related to antitrust policies and their application to airline alliances. Dr. Willig is a former supervisor of economics research at Bell Laboratories and a former deputy assistant attorney general for economics at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. A fellow of the Econometric Society, Dr. Willig has served as a reviewer for multiple economics journals. Moreover, Dr. Willig's recent research has examined model specification when assessing the competitive effects of immunized airline alliances. In particular, Dr. Willig explored the effects of different models and operationalization of variables and tentatively concluded that the use of standard controls is crucial when comparing the price effects of alliances and code-share agreements. US DOT believes that its intended sole-source awardee, Robert Willig, is the only entity capable of providing an academic assessment of the Empirical Study and its use in alliance monitoring and future research, given the evaluation of empirical model specifications, thereby assisting USDOT in fulfilling its responsibilities under 49 USC § 41309. VOLODYMYR BILOTKACH's QUALIFICATIONS: Volodymyr Bilotkach is uniquely qualified to participate in the proposed project, on a SOLE-SOURCE basis, given his extensive research record related to airline alliances. Since 2005, Dr. Bilotkach has published more than 13 articles related to airline alliances and competition and presented his work at multiple conferences. Dr. Bilotkach has been quoted by the press in articles related to airline alliances and competition, served as a reviewer for multiple journals, and been a member of the Transportation Research Board's Committee on Intergovernmental Relations in Aviation. Moreover, Dr. Bilotkach's recent research has expressly identified key competitive effects of airline alliances and antitrust immunity and considered the need for economic lines of reasoning in recent policy actions. Dr. Bilotkach has also tentatively concluded that an examination of alliances needs to consider multiple effects in addition to price effects to develop recommendations for a full-fledged assessment of antitrust immunity for airline alliances. USDOT believes that its intended sole-source awardee, Volodymyr Bilotkach, is the only entity capable of providing an academic assessment of the Empirical Study and its use in alliance monitoring and future research, given the examination of multiple effects in addition to price effects, thereby assisting USDOT in fulfilling its responsibilities under 49 USC § 41309. Notwithstanding USDOT's sole-source intentions as specified and justified above in this Special Notice, any person or organization which believes that it can provide services to assess the Empirical Study and its use in alliance monitoring and research----by performing all of the functions described above, and at the very HIGH level of QUALITY which is indispensable to USDOT----may, not later than 11:59 PM Eastern Time January 13, 2012, e-mail, to aleta.best@dot.gov and to james.mowery@dot.gov and to tyrone.moorer@dot.gov, a Statement of Qualifications attempting to prove the submitter's capabilities.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOT/TASC/TASCASD/DTOS59-12-R-00303/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02645741-W 20111229/111227233641-f6815b9dd8d6952b91c0b55d6c7228af (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |