The Senate Appropriations Committee in the fiscal 2014 appropriations bill approved Thursday expressed concerns about the lack of competition for the technological development phase of the Navy’s Next Generation Jammer (NGJ).
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| The EA-18Gs, foreground, will deploy with the Next Generation Jammer. Photo by Boeing. |
The language, in part of a bill that passed the committee with a 22-8 vote, said the procurement strategy is not compliant with acquisition reforms and instructs the Navy to compete the NGJ program at least throughout the technology development phase.
The Navy on July 8 awarded a $279.4 million contract to Raytheon [RTN] for the jammer that will be installed on the EA-18G electronic attack aircraft. The contract covers the technology development phase of the program.
“The current acquisition strategy selects one contractor for the program’s technology development phase,” the SAC bill said. “The committee is concerned that this approach is inconsistent with some of the basic tenets of the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, including those that encourage competition throughout the life cycle, and directs the Navy to maintain competition through the Next Generation Jammer program’s technology development phase.”
Raytheon beat out incumbent Northrop Grumman [NOC] as well as BAE Systems for the contract. BAE has lodged a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), requiring the Navy to issue a stop work order. Northrop Grumman did not appear to protest the decision.