A month after BAE Systems filed a second supplemental protest over a $3 billion U.S. Army truck contract it lost, the company has released heavily redacted protest documents intended to support its stance.

BAE Systems objected to the Army's decision in late August to award a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) contract to competitor Oshkosh Corp. The contract, for about 20,000 vehicles over five years, is a so-called rebuy. BAE has been building FMTVs for the Army for 17 years, and the company complains that the Army ran a flawed competition for the rebuy.

BAE filed its first formal protest on Sept. 4, followed by a supplemental protest on Sept. 11 and the second supplemental protest in October. During a teleconference Oct. 21, Dennis Morris, BAE's president of Global Tactical Systems, pressed for the release of the documents, which were made public Nov. 17.

The redacted version of the protest "provides greater insight into how the stated objective to conduct a best-value FMTV competition was not followed during the acquisition," according to Morris. BAE also claims the documents reveal "that the acquisition missteps in the FMTV rebuy decision are consistent with the types of procurement flaws that have led the GAO to sustain protests in the past."

On Nov. 9 and 10, GAO held a closed hearing to review the protest, a move BAE deemed significant. The only witnesses called were from the Army.

The redacted protest reads, in part, "The Agency Report confirms that the Army unreasonably transformed what was supposed to be a 'best value' competition into a lowest-price, technically acceptable bidding war."

Under a complicated set of rules set forth by GAO, only the individuals covered by protective order are allowed to view the protest documents, according to Al Crews, BAE's vice president of legal and contracts (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 22). The newly released documents were news to BAE as well, revealing, at least in part, the reason for the second supplemental protest filing, which was made by the company's legal counsel. GAO will make its final decision by Dec. 14.

Moments after the close of the teleconference, an e-mail was sent out by the Sealy FMTV Task Force. (Sealy, Texas, is where BAE builds its FMTVs). The so-called news advisory claimed the loss of the FMTV contract will cost the Houston region $1.8 billion annually if it is not reversed, according to "an in-depth analysis by the Greater Houston Partnership."

Photo credit: U.S. Army