Base operations support, almost always shortened to BASOPS, is the contract vehicle the military uses to buy the day to day running of an installation. One prime, one performance work statement, and a bundle of recurring functions that would otherwise sit under a dozen separate awards: grounds maintenance, custodial services, refuse collection, pest management, HVAC and mechanical maintenance, electrical maintenance, plumbing, minor construction and a steady stream of service orders. The buying office is usually a Mission and Installation Contracting Command office supporting the garrison, and the primary NAICS code is 561210, Facilities Support Services.
A5N Prime LLC is registered under NAICS 561210 and the trade codes that sit beneath it, and the firm is built around the operating model these contracts demand. This article lays out what an installation actually expects from a BASOPS prime and how a small business should be structured to deliver it.
What a BASOPS Performance Work Statement Actually Contains
A BASOPS PWS is not a scope of work in the construction sense. It is a performance standard document. It tells the contractor what condition the installation must be kept in and leaves the method to the contractor, then measures compliance through a quality assurance surveillance plan. A typical installation PWS is organized into functional annexes, and the recurring functional areas look like this:
- Grounds maintenance. Mowing cycles by turf class, edging, trimming around fixed obstacles, planting bed maintenance, fertilization and weed control programs, tree and shrub pruning, seasonal cleanup, and snow and ice management where the climate requires it.
- Custodial services. Scheduled cleaning by space type and frequency, restroom servicing, floor care programs, window cleaning, and policing of exterior areas.
- Refuse and recycling. Collection schedules, container management, and diversion reporting against installation sustainability targets.
- Pest management. Integrated pest management plans, scheduled treatments, and response to service calls, performed under state applicator licensing.
- HVAC and mechanical. Preventive maintenance schedules on air handling units, chillers, boilers and controls, plus corrective maintenance and emergency response.
- Electrical. Preventive and corrective maintenance on distribution equipment, lighting systems, emergency power and life safety circuits.
- Minor construction and service orders. A recurring stream of small task orders that must be priced, scheduled and closed inside defined response windows.
The functions are individually unremarkable. What makes BASOPS hard is that all of them run at once, on separate schedules, measured separately, across a large installation, every day, for a base year and four option years.
What Evaluators Actually Score
Source selection on a BASOPS procurement rarely turns on price alone. The technical and management factors carry real weight, and in practice a small business proposal is won or lost on four things.
Management Approach
The government wants to see that one accountable organization is running all of the functional areas, not a loose collection of subcontractors coordinated by a shell. That means a named project manager with authority, a defined organizational structure, clear lines from the field crews to the contracting officer's representative, and a quality control plan that the contractor actually operates rather than a document written for the proposal.
Phase-In
Every BASOPS award has a transition period, usually thirty to ninety days, during which the incoming contractor must hire or retain the workforce, badge and clear personnel, take accountability for government furnished equipment, stand up its maintenance management system, and begin performing without a gap. Evaluators read the phase-in plan closely because a failed transition is immediately visible to the garrison commander.
Staffing and Retention
Most of a BASOPS workforce is covered by the Service Contract Act, and under Executive Order nondisplacement provisions the incoming contractor is generally required to offer positions to the incumbent workforce. A credible proposal shows the contractor understands the applicable wage determination, has priced fringe correctly, and has a realistic plan to retain the people who already know the installation.
Past Performance
Relevance matters more than size. A contractor that has held multi-year recurring service contracts at federal installations, performed to standard through option year exercises, and passed inspections is more credible than one with a single large but dissimilar award.
How A5N Prime Is Built for This Work
A5N Prime LLC operates as a federal building services and facilities maintenance firm. The firm holds recurring, multi-year service contracts at federal installations in several states and performs them concurrently, which is the same coordination problem a BASOPS contract presents on a single larger site.
- W-2 field workforce. The firm employs its own crews rather than brokering every function, which is what the limitations on subcontracting require of a small business prime and what contracting officers look for when they evaluate whether a prime is genuinely performing.
- Owned equipment. Company owned trucks, trailers and grounds equipment staged at the sites the firm services, so mobilization is not dependent on rental availability.
- Vetted subcontractor bench. For licensed trades and surge capacity, A5N maintains qualified subcontractors under written agreements that require their own insurance, additional insured status, and indemnity in favor of A5N.
- Multi-year recurring past performance. Year round grounds maintenance at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, Georgia under an eight CLIN recurring services contract. Grounds maintenance at the Fort Des Moines Army Reserve Center under a five year Army contract. Trim and edge services at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. Grounds maintenance at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport.
- Multi-discipline facility work. HVAC installation and maintenance, electrical infrastructure, interior renovation and flooring, door systems, gates and perimeter fencing across U.S. Coast Guard Northeast District installations and Navy facilities.
- Equipment procurement and logistics. Sod procurement, delivery and installation at Florida National Cemetery, and procurement, rigging, commissioning and demobilization of a 550 ton portable chiller at a VA medical center.
The Small Business Case
Installations set BASOPS work aside for small business and for SDVOSB firms specifically because the model works when the prime is close to the work. A large prime running an installation from a regional office has layers between the garrison and the crew. A small business prime whose owners answer the phone does not. The tradeoff the government accepts is scale, and the way a small business closes that gap is with disciplined management systems, real W-2 staffing, and a subcontractor bench that is under contract before the proposal is submitted rather than after award.
A5N Prime was built by two Marine Corps veterans around that premise. For a capability statement or to discuss an installation support requirement, contact our team.