The Army has announced plans to increase the number of total Joint Light Tactical Vehicle trailers it could buy from Oshkosh Defense [OSK] by over 2,000 up to 5,562 trailers.
A new notice published on Monday detailed plans for the sole-source modification to the Army’s current JLTV contract with Oshkosh Defense, which had an original production ceiling of 3,541 trailers.
The announcement follows a Request for Information released in August 2021 detailing the Army’s interest in potentially boosting the JLTV production trailer figure.
“Based on the subsequent market research analysis, the government determined that an award to a contractor other than the incumbent would result in an unacceptable delay. While the government owns a [technical data package] for the JLTV-[trailer], a competitive source selection that awards to a contractor other than the incumbent would result in significant delays (to include, but not limited to, tooling and supply chain lead time and first article testing to get to full rate production),” the Army wrote in Monday’s notice.
The Army is currently gearing up for the JLTV competitive follow-on production contract, releasing a Request for Proposals in February, with the deal worth potentially $7.3 billion over 10 years (Defense Daily, Feb. 9).
A contract award is slated for later this year and would include first vehicle delivery 18 months later in March 2024.
The Army previously said the follow-on production could cover approximately 17,000 JLTVs and 10,000 trailers, according to slides from an industry day for the competition this past fall, while the public version of the RFP did not specify acquisition objectives (Defense Daily, Nov. 18).
George Mansfield, Oshkosh Defense’s vice president and general manager of joint programs, told Defense Daily in October the company is “very confident” in its pursuit to secure the next production contract (Defense Daily, Nov. 1).
The JLTV re-compete effort has drawn at least one public competitor in AM General, with GM Defense [GM] also signaling potential interest, having previously detailed plans to line up partners and ensure it has the full supply chain of parts necessary to go after the production contract (Defense Daily, May 4).