PAE Worldwide
US government services contractor (Pacific Architects and Engineers), now part of Amentum; supplied protective equipment to the Somali National Army under the CSSF
| PAE
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Corporation (United States); acquired by Amentum in 2022 |
| Founded | 1955, Tokyo (as Pacific Architects and Engineers Incorporated) |
| Founder(s) | Edward Shay |
| Status | Merged into Amentum (February 2022) |
| Headquarters | 1320 Courthouse Road, Suite 800, Arlington, VA 22201, United States (address given in a 2017 Contracts Finder award); later Falls Church, Virginia |
| Services | Logistics, base operations, training and mission support for the US government and allies |
PAE (Pacific Architects and Engineers; "PAE Worldwide Incorporated" in UK contract records) was a US government services contractor. It was founded in Tokyo in 1955, owned by Lockheed Martin from 2006 to 2011, listed on Nasdaq in 2020, and bought by Amentum in February 2022.[1][2] In September 2017 the FCO awarded "PAE Worldwide Incorporated" a £308,945 Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) contract for "Personal Protective Clothing & Equipment for Somali National Army". Published FCO spending data record £309,494 in payments to "PAE WORLDWIDE INC" in March and May 2018.[3][4] PAE is not named on the published 2023–27 CSSF framework list.[5]
History and ownership
PAE's own history says "Edward Shay founded Pacific Architects and Engineers Incorporated in Tokyo in 1955" to provide services to US government agencies in Asia. It says the US government chose PAE as "one of the primary design firms supporting construction of infrastructure" during the Vietnam War. In the 1980s PAE became the service provider to the State Department at the US Embassy in Moscow. In the 1990s and 2000s it expanded into peacekeeping and "capacity building", with clients including the State Department, the UN, NATO, the African Union and USAID. Lockheed Martin bought it in 2006.[1]
Lockheed Martin completed its sale of PAE to the private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg on 4 April 2011.[6] By early 2020 PAE was a portfolio company of Platinum Equity. On 10 February 2020 it went public through a merger with Gores Holdings III, a special purpose acquisition company, and was renamed PAE Incorporated. At that point it had "a global workforce of more than 20,000" and was headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia.[7] Amentum completed its all-cash acquisition of PAE on 15 February 2022, a deal valued at "approximately $1.9 billion, including the assumption of debt and certain fees".[2]
Somalia
The UK CSSF contract ran from 8 September 2017 to 31 March 2018. The Contracts Finder record gives the supplier's address as Arlington, Virginia.[3] Separately, USAspending.gov records a State Department delivery order to PAE Government Services, Inc. for "logistical support, process, physical distribution, and logistics consulting services/AMISON [sic] Somalia". It began on 14 November 2018 and runs to 26 September 2026, with total obligations of about US$199.5 million.[8] This ties PAE's UK-funded supply work to its wider US-funded role supporting the African Union mission and Somali forces.
FCO payments
| Date | Supplier name as published | Amount (£) |
|---|---|---|
| 26 March 2018 | PAE WORLDWIDE INC | 166,892.22 |
| 23 May 2018 | PAE WORLDWIDE INC | 142,601.95 |
| Total | 309,494.17 |
[4] Total payments came to £549 more than the published contract value.
Controversies
In September 2015 PAE Government Services Inc. and RM Asia (HK) Limited agreed to pay the United States $1.45 million "to resolve allegations that they engaged in a bid-rigging scheme that resulted in false claims for payment under a U.S. Army contract" for vehicle maintenance and training for the Afghan National Army. According to the US Department of Justice, a former PAE programme manager, his wife and two RM Asia managers had earlier pleaded guilty in a related criminal case. The department noted that "the claims resolved by this settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability".[9]
Gaps
- "PAE Worldwide Incorporated" is the name used in the UK award. Its exact legal relationship to PAE Government Services, Inc. and PAE Incorporated has not been established from US corporate registers.
- PAE's UK branch registrations (for example FC038389, PAE Applied Technologies International LLC) are a different PAE business, and are not used here.
- The 2016 sale from Lindsay Goldberg to Platinum Equity is reported in secondary sources but not cited here.
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 PAE, Our History PAE (archived 4 January 2018 by the Internet Archive).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Amentum, Amentum Completes Acquisition of PAE Amentum, 15 February 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, CSSF: Personal Protective Clothing & Equipment for Somali National Army Contracts Finder, published 12 October 2017.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Foreign and Commonwealth Office, FCO departmental spending over £25,000 GOV.UK, 2010–2020; Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, FCDO: departmental spending over £25,000 GOV.UK, 2020–2025.
- ↑ BidStats, Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) (2023): award notice summary BidStats, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ Lockheed Martin, Lockheed Martin Completes PAE Divestiture to Lindsay Goldberg, LLC PR Newswire, 5 April 2011.
- ↑ Gores Holdings III, Inc., Gores Holdings III, Inc. Completes Acquisition of PAE From Platinum Equity The Gores Group, 10 February 2020.
- ↑ USAspending.gov, Delivery order 19AQMM19F0009 under SAQMMA17D0080: logistical support ... AMISOM Somalia USAspending.gov, accessed 20 October 2026.
- ↑ US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Virginia, PAE Government Services and RM Asia (HK) Limited to Pay $1.45 Million to Settle Claims in Alleged Bid-Rigging Scheme US Department of Justice, 11 September 2015.