Textron Fails to Overturn $122M US Navy Drone Ship Contract

American defense firm Textron Systems has failed to overturn a US Navy decision to award a $122 million drone ship contract to Bollinger Shipyards.

Textron reportedly played an integral role in the research and development of the mine countermeasures unmanned surface vehicle (USV), but the production contract was given to a different vendor.

The company used its right to file a bid protest – an option defense firms can take if they believe the government inappropriately awarded a contract.

Textron claims that the US Navy “misevaluated” Bollinger Shipyard’s proposal and made improper cost appraisals.

It also alleged that the service’s decision was “unreasonable” because it was based on flawed evaluations.

“Essentially, Textron has argued that Bollinger’s proposal could have been more detailed or based on more comparable experience,” the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) states. “The agency, however, did not ignore this possibility, as the protester suggests.”

Response

The GAO explained that a government agency does not have to achieve scientific certainty when evaluating projected costs.

It added that the government only needs to be confident that the information provided by the vendors is “reasonable.”

The agency also dismissed the allegation that the Navy’s decision to give the contract to Bollinger was a result of “flawed underlying assumptions.”