The US Army’s choice of Textron Inc. to build a replacement for the mainstay Black Hawk helicopter was upheld by the Government Accountability Office despite a challenge by rival bidder Lockheed Martin Corp.
(Bloomberg) — The US Army’s choice of Textron Inc. to build a replacement for the mainstay Black Hawk helicopter was upheld by the Government Accountability Office despite a challenge by rival bidder Lockheed Martin Corp.
The GAO said “the Army reasonably evaluated” a competing proposal by Lockheed’s Sikorsky division and rejected it because it “failed to provide the level of architectural detail required.”
The finding averts a fresh competition for the potential $7 billion project. The GAO, an auditing agency that’s an arm of Congress, also adjudicates protests over the award of federal contracts.
Lockheed’s challenge appeared a longshot from the start because in fiscal 2022 the GAO sustained protests — overturning contract awards — in only 13% of more than 1,600 cases filed, according to its latest annual report to Congress.
The $7 billion potential price tag for the new helicopter includes development and production if all options are awarded. The initial development contract is valued at as much as $1.3 billion and expected to take 19 months, according to the Army. The service had two different approaches to choose from.
Bell won with a tilt-rotor aircraft called the V-280 Valor that’s derived from its tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey, which can take off and land like a helicopter and fly like a plane. A team of the top two defense contractors, Lockheed and Boeing Co. offered a coaxial lift compound rotor aircraft called Defiant X. Lockheed’s Sikorsky unit built the workhorse Black Hawk helicopter.
“We remain confident the Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing team submitted the most capable, affordable and lowest-risk Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft solution,” Lockheed said in a statement. “We will review the GAO’s decision and determine our next steps.” In some cases, companies whose claims have been rejected by the GAO have taken the fight to the courts.
The Army said in a statement that it appreciated “the GAO’s thorough review and decision to uphold our decision.”
The Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft is the first program in the Army’s Future Vertical Lift project to replace both the UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters. It’s seen as a crucial test of how the service can modernize without major delays and cost overruns after some high-profile failures over the past 20 years.
(Updates with Lockheed and Army comments in seventh paragraph)
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