By Ann Roosevelt
Additional information has led to BAE Systems filing a First Supplemental Protest with the Government Accountability Office over the Army’s awarding to Oshkosh Corp. [OSK] of the five-year, potential multi-billion rebuy program for the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV).
BAE on Sept. 4 filed a protest over the award, citing the Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command Life Cycle Management Command (TACOM) did not follow the evaluation criteria and unreasonably evaluated BAE and Oshkosh.
Another competitor, Navistar International Corp. [NAV.N], has also lodged a protest.
The Army issued a stop work order to Oshkosh, which received the award in late August (Defense Daily, Aug. 28).
The original protest, filed Sept.4, initiates a 100-day process; GAO is expected to make its decision on or before Dec. 14.
Attorneys say they filed the supplemental protest on Sept. 11 because the company “became aware of additional evidence” that TACOM failed to follow evaluation criteria and “unreasonably” evaluated BAE and Oshkosh under several elements of the production capability subfactor and the cost and price factor.
The first supplemental protest says TACOM “unreasonably evaluated” the workforce/manpower element under the production capability subfactor.
“Additional evidence further demonstrates that TACOM failed to adequately consider Oshkosh’s lack of an available workforce to perform the solicitation requirements…,” the protest said.
The contract proposers were to identify the current workforce, and whether the proposer would have to supplement a current workforce, use a workforce at an existing facility or supplement a current workforce to add production at an existing facility or if it would have to acquire a new workforce.
“All evidence indicates that Oshkosh’s workforce is already strained due to the recent expansion in Oshkosh’s defense business,” the protest said. This is something Oshkosh discussed publicly.
A second concern initially protested was that TACOM unreasonably evaluated the manufacturing facilities and production approach elements under the production capability subfactor.
TACOM ignored several key risks, the supplemental protest said. This includes not considering the “inevitable production impact” of the recent award to Oshkosh of the M-ATV contract, with a production demand that “negatively impacts” Oshkosh’s FMTV production ability, BAE said.
The protest also points out that Oshkosh discussed with M-ATV competitors about assisting in production, though no decision had been made.
Additionally, Oshkosh reported significant backlog under its current defense contract, “which should have raised concern about its ability to timely produce FMTV vehicles,” the supplemental protest said.
Such risks should have raised concerns with TACOM, BAE said. “Any one of these risks requires downgrading Oshkosh’s proposal from an “Excellent/Very Low Risk” rating,” it said.
TACOM also failed to perform an adequate “price realism” analysis of the Oshkosh proposal, the protest said. “There is considerable evidence demonstrating that Oshkosh’s proposed prices were unrealistically low,” it said.
The supplemental protest said TACOM said as the incumbent producer of the FMTV, BAE has all the tooling and equipment it needs, while Oshkosh has never manufactured an FMTV vehicle or Long-Term Armor Strategy cab. Though Oshkosh has tooling for the cab, that doesn’t mitigate the risk prior to ballistic or reliability tests for the cab, BAE said.
Another concern addressed in the supplemental protest falls under the Time Phased Critical Path of the production capability subfactors. TACOM’s evaluation was unreasonable, the protest said, “because it failed to consider the risks associated with Oshkosh’s proposal to build new facilities and the limited excess production in its existing facilities…,” it said.
Finally, the BAE supplemental protest said “Oshkosh failed to comply with the solicitation requirement to identify hazardous materials to be delivered under the FMTV contract prior to award.”
The Oshkosh contract does not identify any hazardous materials associated with FMTV vehicles, the protest said, thus “it appears that Oshkosh failed to comply with this express solicitation requirement.”
BAE requests that GAO sustain its initial protest and the first supplemental protest, and in the event TACOM moves forward with the FMTV acquisition, the company recommends that TACOM extend its current bridge contract with BAE Systems for FMTV to “mitigate any risk of production in the interim.”