Oshkosh Defense has filed a protest against the US Army award of an $8.66-billion Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) contract to AM General.
The Wisconsin-based company, which initially received the deal in 2015, recently lost a recompete contract to deliver 20,000 JLTVs to the US Army.
The service exercised the option to open bidding again in an attempt to find other defense firms that could build the product at a reduced cost.
In a statement, Oshkosh Defense cited “significant concerns” about how the competing bids were evaluated.
It claims that the government did not properly review the financial, technical, and manufacturing aspects of the bids to provide best value and lowest risk solution for the contract.
“As the incumbent manufacturer and original designer of the JLTV platform, only Oshkosh’s proposal leveraged substantial JLTV experience and proven JLTV production infrastructure, while providing best-in-class upgrades to the JLTV platform,” the company stated.
‘Expected’ Move
Oshkosh Defense’s protest was expected by some analysts and close observers as early as February.
It is a major loss for the company, which had already received a $6.7-billion low-rate initial production contract for 16,900 JLTVs before the army decided to open bidding again.
According to JLTV program manager Michael Sprang, unit prices are often considered competition sensitive until the protest window is closed.
“The US Army succeeded in obtaining a lower cost than the independent government cost estimate through the recompete,” he told Breaking Defense.
It is unclear if the service has instructed AM General to stop producing the vehicles pending the resolution of the protest.