HNT Contract

The Host Nation Trucking Contract is a $2.16 billion dollar indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to provide ground transportation in Afghanistan for over 70 percent of US Department of Defense goods and materiel, including food, water, fuel, equipment, and ammunition. The contract was awarded to six contractors on March 15, 2009, and performance began on May 1, 2009. Although the contract started with a total contract cap of $360 million dollars, according to the US Department of Defense, “two weeks after performance began requirements skyrocketed at a pace that acquisition planners could not have anticipated” due to the surge in troops. In July 2009, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Dean Popps signed a “Justification and Approval for Out of Scope Modification” that increased the total contract size to $2.16 billion, with an individual cap of $360 million per HNT contractor. For context, the total annual gross domestic product of Afghanistan was just over $13 billion in 2009.

Prior to this HNT contract, the US Department of Defense’s supply transportation was provided under a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) with several companies, some of whom are now prime or sub-contractors for the current HNT contract. The new HNT contract was conceived to add capacity, simplify pricing, and solve several problems with the BPA, including concerns regarding corruption and bribery among BPA contractors and, in one case, a U.S. Army contracting officer.^[1]

The following companies are prime contractors under the HNT contract:

• NCL Holdings (NCL)
• The Sandi Group
• Mesopotamia Group and EMA
• HEB International Logistics
• Anham, LLC
• The Four Horsemen International (Four Horsemen)
• Afghan American Army Services (AAA)
• Guzar Mir Bacha Kot Transportation (GMT)

References

1. ↑ Extortion and Corruption Along the U.S. Supply Chain in Afghanistan