Wednesday February 18, 08:43 PM
Northrop, Textron contract protests denied
WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied Northrop Grumman Corp (NYSE: NOC - news) and Textron Inc
(NYSE: TXT - news) challenges to contracts for development of a potential multibillion-dollar Humvee replacement fleet, the Army announced.
GAO, a congressional umpire of contested federal awards, upheld three Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV, technology development contracts with a combined value of $166 million, a statement released late Tuesday said.
The contracts were awarded Oct. 29 to Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE: LMT - news) ; BAE Systems Plc (LSE: AP16.L - news) ; and a joint venture between General Dynamics Corp and Humvee-maker AM General LLC.
The report from the GAO and subsequent decision to deny Northrop and Textron challenges to the contracts remain under protective order and is not yet available to the public.
Northrop Grumman, which had partnered with specialty truck maker Oshkosh Corp , said it was 'extremely disappointed.'
'Northrop Grumman feels it offered an alternative to conventional JLTV approaches and believes its proposal was a better value to both the warfighter and the taxpayer,' said Randy Belote, a company spokesman.
A Textron spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.
The winners were awarded 27-month contracts to build and test prototypes of the JLTV, a family of armored combat and scout trucks. The value of the projected JLTV fleet has been estimated as high as $40 billion.
After the technical development phase, the Army and the Marine Corps, which are running the contest as a joint project, anticipate holding another 'full and open' competition for the award of two contracts for further development, the Army's statement said.
Full production and fielding is projected in 2015, it said.
(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Bernard Orr) Keywords: NORTHROP TEXTRON/PROTESTS
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