The Air Force agreed not to take corrective action on its Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long Range Radar (3DELRR), pending a court ruling, though it is unclear whether the service formally told competition winner Raytheon [RTN] to stop work in the meantime.
According to a Jan. 29 order in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by Judge Margaret Sweeney, the court will hear arguments on the parties’ motions on April 29 in downtown Washington. Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Northrop Grumman [NOC], which lost out to Raytheon in the original source selection, successfully joined the Air Force as defendant-intervenors in Raytheon’s suit against the service.
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman filed bid protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) soon after Raytheon’s October selection. GAO in January dismissed Lockheed Martin’s and Northrop Grumman’s bid protests after the Air Force agreed to reconsider bids in the source selection, prompting Raytheon to sue the Air Force on Jan. 26 to prevent bid reconsideration.
Lockheed Martin said in its Jan. 27 unopposed motion to intervene that in an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) session, GAO informed the Air Force and the parties that the bid protests would likely be sustained for two reasons. Lockheed Martin, in the court filing, also said GAO provided detailed explanations (based on the developed record) for the recommendations for corrective action that would result from the sustained protests.
The Air Force announced Jan. 16 it would take corrective action, according to the court filing. Lockheed Martin expects to participate in the corrective action and the subsequent revised competition. Northrop Grumman spokesman Randy Belote said in a Jan. 28 email the company intends to support the Air Force in its effort to ensure a robust competition.
Corrective action is a federal agency’s voluntary decision to address an issue in response to a protest and may take place at any time. Corrective action may involve a re-evaluation of proposals, a new award decision, an amendment to a solicitation, or other actions. GAO said it will typically dismiss a protest if an agency takes corrective action that resolves protest arguments or provides the relief sought by the protester.
The Air Force in October awarded Raytheon an initial $19.5 million contract for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase that includes three radars. With additional options, the contract could reach a value of $72 million while some analysts speculate that the total value of the program could eventually exceed $1 billion (Defense Daily, Jan. 21).
The Defense Department originally set an Oct. 6, 2018, completion date for 3DELRR, which is designed to detect and track hostile aircraft and missiles and will replace Northrop Grumman’s AN/TPS-75 air defense radar (Defense Daily, Oct. 6).
The Air Force did not respond to a request for comment by press time Friday.