- Army depots lost 785 government employees between fiscal years 2021 and 2025
- Anniston and Red River saw contractor workforces grow during the same period
- GAO identified skilled labor shortages and contractor turnover as production challenges
Amentum Services has received a $609 million contract to provide workforce support for the Department of War’s organic industrial bases. The War Department said Thursday the Amentum subsidiary will supply at least 500 full-time equivalent personnel to help maintain operations at key depots under the award.
What Are the Details of the Amentum Contract?
The Chantilly, Virginia-based company will perform work in Texarkana, Texas, with the firm-fixed-price contract expected to be completed by Nov. 12, 2031. The U.S. Army committed approximately $121.9 million in fiscal 2027 consolidated working fund, Army, engineers and civil funds when it awarded the contract.
Army Contracting Command at Detroit Arsenal in Michigan is overseeing the contract. The Army solicited bids online and received one response.
Why Does the Army Need Additional Depot Workers?
A review of Army depot workforce trends published by the Government Accountability Office in August determined that the Army’s Anniston Army Depot in Alabama and Red River Army Depot in Texas experienced declines in their government workforces between fiscal years 2021 and 2025. GAO conducted the review in response to a House report accompanying the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
The two facilities lost a combined 785 permanent and term-limited employees, representing approximately 18 percent of the workforce, Defence Blog reported. Anniston accounted for 616 of those departures, a decline of approximately 22 percent, while Red River lost 169 employees, or about 11 percent.
Contractor staffing grew at both facilities during the same period. Red River’s contractor workforce increased from 589 to 673, while Anniston’s more than doubled from 101 to 258.
GAO also found that the deferred resignation program and federal hiring freeze prevented the facilities from replacing some skilled employees who retired or left. They identified difficulties in recruiting and retaining experienced tradespeople and said that contractor personnel sometimes lack the skills required for their assigned work. Contractor turnover can also disrupt production.
What Work Does Red River Army Depot Perform?
Red River Army Depot, located west of Texarkana, serves as the Army’s center of industrial and technical excellence for tactical wheeled vehicles, including the Humvee. The depot also supports M270 rocket launcher overhauls to the M270A2 configuration with Lockheed Martin. It has more recently started producing batteries for small drones as part of the Army Materiel Command’s effort to manufacture drone components within its own facilities.
GAO found that Red River’s annual workload generally increased between fiscal years 2021 and 2025, while Anniston’s varied and slightly declined. The largest share of work at both depots involved repairing and refurbishing parts for reuse on ground vehicles.
The Army spent more than $7.1 billion operating the two depots during that period, with most of the funding going toward ground vehicle maintenance and repairs.
GAO also identified maintenance challenges at both facilities, including the condition of vehicles arriving for repairs, parts availability, access to current technical data, workload planning and aging maintenance equipment.
The Army has not specified which positions Amentum’s personnel will fill or how the additional workforce will be distributed among the depots. Defence Blog also reported that Amentum was advertising automotive worker positions for a contract at Red River in July 2026.
