The Army released a final request for proposals for its Joint Light Tactical Vehicle low-rate initial production and full rate production on Friday, giving industry two months to refine and submit their bids before a Feb. 10 deadline.
The Army, on behalf of itself and the Marine Corps, will select a winner and issue a single contract award in late summer 2015.
Photo:Oshkosh Defense
“Today’s release is an important step as this successful, on-budget program moves forward on schedule, and it is the result of tremendous work and diligence across our team,” Colonel John Cavedo, the U.S. Army Project Manager for Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, said in an Army statement. “The JLTV program remains on track to deliver an affordable, protected mobility solution that fills today’s critical capability gap with substantial advances in the balance of payload, performance, and protection.”
“This RFP maintains the program’s longstanding focus on affordability and stable requirements to obtain the best value for the taxpayer and America’s Soldiers and Marines,” Scott Davis, U.S. Army Program Executive Officer for Combat Support & Combat Service Support, said in the statement. “We continue to look forward to a Milestone C decision and the award of a firm-fixed-price contract to a single vendor near the end of Fiscal Year 2015.”
The winning contractor would build about 17,000 JLTVs for the Army and Marine Corps throughout three years of low-rate initial production and five years of full-rate production. The first Army unit would be equipped with vehicles by fiscal year 2018. The Marine Corps, whose 5,500-vehicle purchase would be filled at the beginning of production, would reach initial operational capability in FY ’18 and finish its buy in FY ’22. The Army’s full buy wouldn’t be complete until 2040.
The three contractors in the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase – Lockheed Martin [LMT], AM General and Oshkosh Defense [OSK] – completed a Limited User Test with the Army and Marine Corps in early November and have been preparing their bids based on three draft RFPs (Defense Daily, Nov. 19).
According to the Army statement, the final RFP did not make any substantial changes though, meaning the contractors will not have to make any major revisions between now and February. The final RFP clarifies the program’s expectations about the delivery of specific requirements “while still allowing vendors to propose tradable options in some areas,” according to the statement.
Some of the refinements between the draft and final RFPs include changes to the source selection criteria, removing manufacturing readiness as a factor and updating the lifecycle cost adjustment calculator, according to Army contracting documents. The Army also broke the reliability qualification testing from one segment into three.
“The JLTV Family of Vehicles (FoV) will support Joint Forces across all military operations by restoring light tactical mobility and ensuring commanders no longer have to choose between payload and mobility or protection when engaged across the full spectrum of enemy, terrain, and environmental conditions,” according to the statement. “JLTV will also address challenges in maintainability, connectivity, and performance as it provides major operational improvements in protected mobility, network connectivity, fuel efficiency, and reliability, along with the growth potential to meet future mission requirements.”
The three EMD contractors are ready to meet that challenge and eager to finalize their bids this winter, they said in statements Friday.
“We are pleased that the JLTV RFP has been released after months of intense vehicle testing and evaluation,” said Scott Greene, vice president of ground vehicles at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Our proposal team is active, having completed several detailed reviews of our customers’ draft RFPs over the past weeks, and is already working on our final response. We intend to deliver a proposal that proves to our Army and Marine Corps customers that the Lockheed Martin JLTV Team will produce the most capable, best value JLTV at the right price.”
“I can acknowledge that AM General received the JLTV RFP earlier today,” spokesman Jeff Adams said Friday. “Our (Blast Resistant Vehicle – Off Road) BRV-O JLTV team is fully engaged in providing our customer a very compelling and comprehensive response to its proposal that meets their requirements and demonstrates our JLTV candidate is the best choice to fill the capability gap in light tactical vehicles with respect to innovation, payload, protection and performance all at an affordable price.”
“Oshkosh received portions of the JLTV Final RFP earlier today, and we expect the balance of the RFP to be posted later today,” said John Bryant, senior vice president of defense programs for Oshkosh Defense. “Our initial review of the RFP demonstrates DoD’s consistent focus on a best value approach and delivering a highly capable, reliable vehicle for our Soldiers and Marines.”