WASHINGTON — Incumbent Oshkosh Defense on Monday filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office over the U.S. Army’s decision to award AM General a contract to build the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.
“After participating in the government’s post-award debriefing process, we have significant concerns regarding the evaluation of the proposals under the solicitation that support an independent review,” Tim Bleck, Oshkosh Defense’s president, said in a company statement. “We believe the government’s evaluation did not properly review the financial, technical, and manufacturing capabilities offered to select the best value and lowest risk solution to deliver the JLTV.”
Last month, the Army tapped AM General, a company that lost its original bid to build the JLTV in 2015, to build additional vehicles. It’s unclear who else competed in this phase of the program, but Oshkosh initially beat out both AM General and Lockheed Martin in 2015.
The Army’s Feb. 9 award to AM General, totaling $8.66 billion for 20,682 JLTVs and 9,833 trailers. The contract is meant to provide vehicles for the joint force as well as foreign customers.
Oshkosh has built nearly 19,000 JLTVs to date, supplying them to the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy as well as armies in Montenegro, Brazil, Slovenia and Lithuania. The company is under contract to build more than 22,679 vehicles and expects additional orders through November, according to a company spokesperson.
Belgium, North Macedonia and Romania already have plans to buy the vehicle; the U.K., Portugal and Greece have shown interest in buying it.
The Army’s planned procurement objective is 49,099 trucks.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
