Lockheed Martin filed a protest against US DoD for the JLTV contract 40909151

Defence & Security News - (USA)
 
Lockheed Martin filed a protest against US DoD for the JLTV contract

Lockheed Martin Corp. has filed a protest against the US DoD’s decision to award the JLTV programme to Oshkosh Corp. The new vehicle will replace the Humvees used by the US Army and the USMC. A total of 17,000 units will be initially procured under a USD6.75 billion contract.

     
Lockheed Martin filed protest against US DoD for the JLTV contract
Oshkosh JLTV (Source: Oshkosh Defense)
     

The Pentagon’s decision came after a ten-year long evaluation process, which will bring the total number of JLTVs in service to 55,000 through 2040, at a cost of USD30 billion.

The third competitor, AM General, stated that it will not file a protest against the decision. Furthermore, the company has announced a six-year contract to provide the Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard with M997A3 HMMWV in ambulance configuration, at a cost of USD428.3 million.

Lockheed Martin stated the following: “After evaluating the data provided at our debrief, Lockheed Martin has filed a protest of the award decision. We firmly believe we offered the most capable and affordable solution for the program. Lockheed Martin does not take protests lightly, but we are protesting to address our concerns regarding the evaluation”.

The General Accountability Office will have 100 days to respond to the protest. The decision will be to either dismiss or sustain or deny the protest. It can provide a recommendation, such as repeating the bidding process. Nevertheless, this is not legally binding, albeit followed by the Pentagon. Until then, no work will be undertaken for the program. In a period of reduced budgets, protests have increased. However, the vast majority of them is rejected.