Lockheed Martin protests JLTV selection, AM General does not

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) says it filed a formal protest against the $6.75B U.S. Army contract to build almost 17K armored trucks awarded to Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) last month, without elaborating on its specific concerns.

It’s not immediately known what effect the Lockheed Martin protest will have on Oshkosh, although sources earlier said it could cause a delay in the start of production.

The Army contract has Oshkosh building 17,000 “joint light tactical vehicles” over the next eight years.

Oshkosh’s JLTV beat out the version built by Lockheed, which pitched its vehicle as more powerful and more adaptable to different configurations.

Prior to EMD contract award, Lockheed Martin completed the Army’s Continued Technology Development (CTD) phase, which included design, test and demonstration of the JAGM guidance section.

“We firmly believe we offered the most capable and affordable solution for the program”, the Bethesda-based company said in a statement.

“We believe a protest would ultimately result in a distraction from our current growth business areas, including meeting the significant current and future needs of our customers in the United States and around the globe”, the company said.

Driving the point home, the company on Tuesday announced that it had received a six-year $428 million contract to supply the Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard with Humvee ambulance variants.

Previous contract awards from the Pentagon, such as the Air Force’s KC-X tanker program and its Light Air Support contract, saw heavy political pressure from representatives of the losing companies.

Bid protests are reviewed by the General Accountability Office, which has overturned 2.4 percent of awards between 2010 and 2014, according to Bloomberg. $30 billion in work through 2040. The GAO has until December 17 to make a decision, Bloomberg reported.