SABRELINER CITES SENATOR'S WORK

PERRYVILLE -- Sabreliner Corp., with facilities at St. Louis and Perryville, has marked a milestone at its maintenance and modification center at Perryville Municipal Airport.

The company also cited Sen. Christopher S. Bond for his efforts in protecting the contract's first-year funding.

Bond on Monday received a 20-foot banner with the inscription, "Thank You, Kit." The banner was signed by the company's 800 employees at Perryville and St. Louis.

F. Holmes Lamoreux, chairman and chief executive officer of Sabreliner, said: "Decisive action by Sen. Bond and his staff led Sabreliner through a complicated federal maze to protect nearly $20 million in critical funding for the first year of our multiyear Undergraduate Naval Flight Officer (UNFO) training contract. Without Bond's commitment and aggressive action, the budget allocation for the first year of this program would have expired, forcing our otherwise thriving company into a situation that could have been devastating."

Lamoreux said that if Bond hadn't helped solve the funding problem, massive layoffs would have been necessary because of a misunderstanding.

Monday's ceremony also focused on the firm's completion this month of the 11th airplane for the UNFO training program a milestone because the UNFO contract required 11 airplanes be available for simultaneous missions by Jan. 31, 1991. Sabreliner will add six more planes to the program by April 1992.

Sabreliner was selected for the $242 million UNFO contract in March 1990. Congress had allocated $20 million to the contract in 1991, and those funds were critical to Sabreliner meeting the debt repayment obligation incurred to finance the program, said Lamoreux.

Under federal budget regulations, allocated operational maintenance funds not spent by the end of the government's fiscal year expire. Although Sabreliner had been the Navy's choice for the UNFO contract, some Navy officials decided in the first few weeks of the funding year that they wanted the radar to perform differently, which required reprogramming and redesigning that would take months, not days, to complete, and would have put the funding past the fiscal year date.

"Sen. Bond responded immediately to our plea for help on this," said Lamoreux.

Bond, who appeared before all of the employees at the Perryville facility Monday, lauded Sabreliner's aircraft.

"It is with great pleasure that I am here today with men and women who are working for a strong, healthy company, rather than talking to you about how a misguided bureaucrat in the Pentagon put you out of a job. And, we came too close to that outcome," he said.

Bond explained that when Lamoreux called the last week of September to say that Sabreliner had a problem with the Navy that could result in the loss of a $20 million payment, and possibly bankruptcy, I called senior Navy officials to set up a meeting for Sabreliner officials and my staff.

"My staff accompanied Sabreliner officials, including Lamoreux, to present their case to the deputy secretary of Navy. We also pursued legislative action in the appropriations committee and secured the support of the defense subcommittee chairman to pursue the Sabreliner complaint if necessary.

"In the end we were successful in getting the Navy to admit it made a mistake," said Bond. "This was certainly one of the most gratifying successes I have had in the Senate.

"I am pleased that I was able to play a role in assisting Sabreliner," said Bond. "I know Sabreliner, and I know that the workers here are dedicated to their commitment to perfection. For that reason I had no hesitation in responding fully when Sabreliner called for help. You can be sure that I will continue working on your behalf."

Bond said he will be working as a member of the Senate Small Business and Appropriations Committee to enact legislation that "will prevent situations like Sabreliner's from arising in the future."