For over 30 years, the Air Force Metrology and Calibration (AFMETCAL) Program was managed by the Directorate of Metrology at the Aerospace Guidance and Metrology Center (AGMC). In 1993, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission, operating under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act 1990 (Public Law 101-510, Title XXIX), directed that "The Aerospace Guidance and Metrology Center (AGMC) depot will be closed; some workload will move to other depot maintenance activities including the private sector."
As a result of the BRAC decision, the Air Force pursued privatization of the AGMC workload. As part of the privatization, two major Metrology functions were privatized; The calibration services performed by the Air Force Primary Standards Laboratory (AFPSL) and the generation of calibration technical orders. Management of the AFMETCAL Program was to remain an organic Air Force function. Program management included requirements identification, calibration procedure management, laboratory certification, equipment budgeting and acquisition for both the AFPSL and Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratories (PMELs), Foreign Military Sales (FMS) management, metrology research and development management, Missile Defense (MD) management, PMEL policy management, contract administration and many other tasks. Due to the nature of the AFMETCAL program, extensive interaction and cooperation between the Government and privatization contractor was required.
Contracts for the AGMC workload were awarded in December 1995. Transfer of workload performance from the Government to private contactors was accomplished through a nine month transition period that culminated in the closure of AGMC on 30 September 1996. At that time AFMETCAL was established to manage the Air Force Metrology and Calibration Program.
Through 2006, AFMETCAL operated in partnership with the AFPSL contractor and the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority at the Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center. Today, AFMETCAL continues to work with our partners to ensure Air Force measurements are accurate, uniform, reliable and traceable to NIST or AFMETCAL approved sources.