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January 31, 2020 By cs

Army cancels $45-billion armored vehicle contest that drew one bid

The U.S. Army says it will reevaluate its effort to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle after just one company submitted a qualifying bid in the $45-billion contest.
M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle (photo courtesy U.S. Army)

“Based on feedback and proposals received from industry, the Army has determined it is necessary to revisit the requirements, acquisition strategy and schedule before moving forward,” the Army said in a recently released statement.

The statement did not mention that only General Dynamics submitted an eligible bid. The Army disqualified a Raytheon-Rheinmetall team because it was unable to get its German-made Lynx fighting vehicle to the United States by Oct. 1. SAIC and Bradley-maker BAE Systems did not submit bids.

The U.S. Army Futures Command is the Army command focused on modernization.

Thursday’s decision is a setback for Army Futures Command, founded in 2018 to lead the modernization of the service’s weapons. But the Army did live up to Secretary Ryan McCarthy’s edict: “If you fail, we’d like you to fail early and fail cheap.”

After several failed attempts to buy new combat vehicles, the Army tried to fast-track the Bradley replacement, which it calls the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle. But the speed helped contribute to its demise.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/01/army-cancels-45b-armored-vehicle-contest-drew-one-bid/162504/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition strategy, Army, Army Futures Command, bid proposal, bid rejection, combat vehicle, DoD, requirements definition, single bid, sole bidder

October 28, 2016 By AMK

Lockheed’s pitch: Buy our training jet, save taxpayers $1 billion

Lockheed Martin could build new training jets for the U.S. Air Force more quickly than its competitors — enough to save $1 billion over six years, a top company executive said.

bidding-parametersAnd the service ought to take that into account as it evaluates bids for the $15 billion T-X project, he said.

“What we’re concerned about, frankly, is that the Air Force in their competition right now is not recognizing the value of early delivery or even on-time delivery,” said Rob Weiss, Lockheed executive vice president and general manager of Advanced Development Programs.

Lockheed is running its pursuit of the contract through Weiss’s group, the secretive division better known as the Skunk Works, birthplace of the U-2 spyplane, SR-71 Blackbird, and F-117 stealth fighter.

Here’s how the firm calculates the $1 billion in savings: The Air Force says it wants the first 16 planes ready to train pilots by 2024, but Lockheed says it could deliver the planes three years early. That would allow the Air Force to start getting rid of its T-38 Talon trainers sooner.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2016/10/lockheeds-pitch-buy-our-training-jet-save-taxpayers-1-billion/132520

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Air Force, bid proposal, delivery orders, evaluation criteria, Lockheed Martin, proposal evaluation, skunk works, T-38 Talon, T-X

July 30, 2015 By AMK

Agency’s discussions only with awardee were improper, says GAO

When a procurement agency opens discussions with one offeror, it must open discussions with all offerors within the competitive range.

GAO-GovernmentAccountabilityOffice-SealIn a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that a procuring agency conducted improper discussions when it limited discussions to only one offeror.

The GAO’s decision in International Waste Industries, B-411338 (July 7, 2015) involved a solicitation for the delivery of a solid waste incinerator to Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickham. The solicitation notified offerors that the government planned to procure the incinerator using simplified acquisition procedures.  Award was to be made to the lowest priced, technically acceptable offeror.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/agencys-discussions-only-with-awardee-were-improper-says-gao/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition workforce, bid proposal, bid protest, competitive range, discussions, GAO. Air Force, LPTA, offeror, proposal evaluation

April 1, 2011 By AMK

E-mail snafu no reason to disqualify company’s bid

Rain nor snow nor flooded e-mail servers will stop the delivery of a contract proposal.

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers should not have disqualified a bid because it arrived via e-mail four minutes after the noon deadline.

The proposal from Watterson Construction Co. was held up because the Corps e-mail servers were in the midst of a “mail storm,” causing unusual delays in distributing e-mails.

Judge Susan Braden ruled that the company’s bid was not late because it “was both reached and received by the government’s e-mail servers before the due date.”

According to the decision, a mail storm is an “e-mail sent to a large number of users, a sufficient number of whom reply to all, flooding an e-mail system and disabling it.”

“Watterson’s proposal was improperly eliminated from the competition, as the disturbance in the Army Corps’ servers entitled Watterson to a one-day time extension,” Braden wrote in her ruling.

Braden wrote that today’s e-mails are sent instantaneously in the ordinary course of business, and a problem such as a mail storm is abnormal. The judge concluded then that the mail storm was an “emergency or unanticipated event.” As a result of the emergency, the Federal Acquisition Regulation extends the deadline to bidders for 24 hours.

“It is true that at the time proposals were due, the Army Corps Office was open for business and proposals could have been delivered by hand,” Braden wrote. “The court, however, does not construe the phrase ‘proposals cannot be received’ to mean that it must be impossible for the government to receive proposals, before the ‘emergency’ or ‘unanticipated event’ exception applies.”

– About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is acquisition editor for Federal Computer Week – published Mar. 31, 2011 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/03/31/court-ruling-mail-storm-bid-proposal-deadline.aspx?s=wtdaily_010411 

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Army Corps of Engineers, bid proposal, bid rejection, disqualification, responsiveness

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