Under Contract

The State Department is buying up almost $180,000 in Toyota vehicles for work by the Drug Enforcement Agency in Afghanistan, aimed at targeting drug trafficking. The department is requesting four 2014 Toyota Corollas and two Toyota Land Cruiser Prados. In contract documents, the department said it chose Toyota without an open bidding process because the vehicles wouldn’t stand out. “These vehicles can blend in with the traffic surrounding them while conducting operations, whereas vehicles of the U.S. brands, such as Ford and GM, are hardly seen on the roads in Afghanistan.”

The Army is continuing a contract with Exelis Systems Corp., which assists with “maintenance, supply and transportation” at various U.S. bases across Kuwait: Camp Arifjan, Camp Buehring, Udairi Range and Camp Patriot. The one-year modification to the contract is valued at more than $445 million. 

{mosads} Melitza P Oyola, doing business as a commercial printing business in Puerto Rico, has been awarded with a $31,250 contract from the Defense Department. The business will help the National Guard Bureau create “promotional items” for the branch of the Puerto Rico National Guard that works to recruit and retain soldiers. According to government data, Melitza P Oyola has won more than $135,000 in federal contracts since 2000.

The National Park Service signed an $85,650 contract with Massachusetts educator Gail Burton to lead a five-day “Civil Rights Teachers’ Institute” that takes place at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. Burton will draft “historical lesson plans” and establish “a teachers community support system using Socratic Circle methodology … and application of theater and storytelling strategies for 25 participants.” The contract consists of the initial year, and an option for the government to extend it to additional years.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is spending about $75,000 to purchase 10 night-vision scopes. The “flexibility of the mono[cular] is second to none,” boasts the website of Ident Marking Services, which won the contract. 

Contract information compiled from General Services Administration data and government press releases. Send announcements about government contracts to mwilson@digital-staging.thehill.com.