Bell Mentor-Protégé Relationship Helps Lower Costs for H-1 Upgrade

As a Department of Defense (DoD) prime contractor, Bell continually strives to lower rotorcraft program costs to increase value for customers in support of the warfighters.
Bell is an active participant in the DoD Mentor-Protégé Program which seeks to lower the total cost of acquisition for component parts by providing developmental assistance to a small business supplier. Bell and ACT Aerospace located in Gunnison, Utah, are currently teamed in a 3-year Naval Air Systems Command-sponsored and DoD-funded program whereby the mentor firm advances the technical capabilities and supporting business infrastructure for the protégé, leading to better yields and lower costs for the Navy.

ACT Aerospace (ACTA) is a small business located in a SBA-designated Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Zone in south central Utah. They have benefited from the transfer of technology by Bell for complex-shaped composite parts for the upgrade program for the Huey UH-1Y and Cobra AH-1Z rotorcraft.

The technical achievements under the Mentor-Protégé Agreement thus far have resulted in 17 composite Bell Process Specification (BPS) certifications which have greatly expanded the protégé's abilities to serve the market place in support of DoD military programs. The protégé firm is AS9100 certified and NADCAP certified for certain composite processes.

Pictured from left to right: Ms. Emily Harman, NAVAIR Associate Director -Small Business; Mr. Rolf Hammerer, H-1Program Office Production Deputy; Ms. Jill Moore, NAVAIR Mentor-Protégé Program Manager; Ms. Christin Simpson, H-1 Contracts Specialist; Maj. Vasilios Pappas, Air Test & Evaluation Squadron 21 (HX-21) H-1 Upgrades Platform Coordinator

After numerous laboratory-tested prototypes resulting in an approved full-scale first article, ACTA has now been awarded a multi-year contract by Bell Helicopter to provide numerous components in support of the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft and the upgraded H-1 rotorcraft. "Long term agreements such as the one with ACTA offer a significant contribution to the company's Comprehensive Small Business Subcontracting Plan (CSBSP)" according to Tom Martinez, Bell's small business liaison officer.

Strong, dependable small business suppliers are beneficial to NAVAIR's and Bell's supply chain objectives because they offer cost reductions due to lean organizations, lower overhead costs, continuous improvement and the ability to quickly respond to changing customer needs.

"The Bell/ACTA Agreement is a great example of the value of the Mentor-Protégé Program," said Jill Moore, the NAVAIR Mentor-Protégé Program Manager. "Through Mentor-Protégé, this team has been able to improve the capabilities of a small business supplier, which benefits both ACTA with profitable growth, and Bell with a solid reliable supplier. As a result, NAVAIR program risks and costs have also been reduced."

A Cost Reduction Initiative (CRI) was submitted by Bell's H-1 program management for validation of cost savings and part specifications compliance. A multi-disciplinary team consisting of engineering laboratories, tooling, pricing, H-1 program management, quality assurance, procurement, contracts and the mentor program manager worked together to achieve various component cost reductions. The CRI projected a cost savings of $1.8 million over a five year period.

One example of the ACTA-produced parts for the H-1 program is the fuel cell panel. Five panels of varying geometry are constructed of a laminate core structure containing a fire retardant powder that suppresses flames and heat. The parts are subjected to a three-stage cure process where the main skin, core bond and final bond are completed separately which results in a final product free of air gaps. The yielded part provides for exceptional strength and reliability in support of aircraft performance and protection.

"With assistance from the Bell mentor team, the company has significantly increased its technical capabilities to the next level and thus enabled our firm to qualify with other DoD prime contractors to expand our customer base" says Andy Hill, ACTA general manager and protégé program manager.

ACTA ships composite parts to Bell Amarillo for V-22 final assembly and to a Bell major subcontractor for fuselage major subassembly on the upgraded UH-1Y Huey Venom and AH-1Z Cobra Viper models before the cabins reach final assembly.

Mr. Alan Allman, Mentor-Protégé Program manager said that "The Bell mentor team worked diligently to ensure ACTA's manufacturing planning and production operations were in full compliance to Bell process standards".

ACT Aerospace serves an important role in strengthening DoD's industrial base by offering best-value composite aircraft parts through technical versatility, agility and dynamic scheduling techniques to accommodate changing customer needs. The Mentor-Protégé Program added value in the implementation of a comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning system to control costs, increase productivity and provide customer promise-dates for in-process job orders.

Bell Helicopter was an early prime contractor participant in the Mentor-Protégé Program. Since 1993 Bell has served as the mentor firm in nine programs with seven of the programs sponsored by NAVAIR and funded by DoD to develop qualified small businesses into certified best-value suppliers for military rotorcraft components. The Navy program protégé firms were located in Kansas, California, Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Utah.

In 2002, Bell won the prestigious national DoD Nunn-Perry Award for program excellence for its Navy Mentor-Protégé Program in Oklahoma which supported the V-22 tiltrotor program. With the support and guidance from the Navy and NAVAIR Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP), the Bell mentor team completed major milestones on-schedule and under-budget while meeting the high level of expectations from DoD, the Program Offices and the protégé firms.

Bell recently submitted a proposal for a new Navy Mentor-Protégé Program in support of PMA276, the NAVAIR H-1 Program Office. NAVAIR PMA276 and the NAVAIR OSBP have officially endorsed the program and forwarded the recommendation to the Navy OSBP team for final review, approval and funding. Thomas Chiang, Bell senior engineer for Engineering Laboratories, is the designated Mentor-Protégé program manager with support from Bryan Cupples, director of engineering laboratories, as the program's executive sponsor.