Gov. Asa Hutchinson and officials with Lockheed Martin show off the company's Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.
The Government Accountability Office has dismissed Lockheed Martin’s protest of the U.S. Army’s decision to award Oshkosh a contract to build its Humvee replacement, DefenseNews.com is reporting.
Lockheed Martin had wanted to build the joint light tactical vehicles (JLTVs) at its Camden plant.
According to DefenseNews.com, the GAO dismissed Lockheed’s protest because the company on Dec. 11 decided to file a “Notice of Post-Award Bid Protest” with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The company will file its official protest on Dec. 17, according to the GAO.
From the GAO decision: “Our office will not decide a protest where the matter involved is subject of litigation before a court of competent jurisdiction. Based on Lockheed’s submission of its Notice to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims stating its intent to file a protest with the court involving the same subject matter as the protests pending our Office, we are closing our files without further action.”
From the Defense News piece:
According to a source with knowledge of the procedures, it is uncommon for a company to file with the court close to a GAO protest decision. The GAO was due to make a decision no later than Dec. 17.
Lockheed Martin filed its protest Sept. 8. The company said in a statement at the time: “Lockheed Martin does not take protests lightly, but we are protesting to address our concerns regarding the evaluation of Lockheed Martin’s offer.” It added: “We firmly believe we offered the most capable and affordable solution for the program.”
Oshkosh was awarded the contract in August. The deal would have meant expansion for the Camden plant, with Lockheed Martin planning to hire 600 employees and add new facilities to support production of the vehicles. The project was set to receive an $87 million incentive package from the state if it got the contract.
By August, it had already manufactured 50 of the vehicles.
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