The Navy is re-evaluating the proposals submitted for its next generation airborne jammer in line with the recommendations made by the General Accountability Office in the successful protest of the award that originally went to Raytheon [RTN].
In response to a protest by BAE Systems, the GAO ruled in November that the Navy failed to adequately evaluate technical risks outlined in the request for proposals for the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), and insufficiently documented the evaluations and improperly credited Raytheon with outdated experience. In additional details released by the GAO last week said the Navy also had improper communications with Raytheon officials during the evaluation period.
The Navy said Monday it will re-evaluate the proposals.
“In accordance with the GAO’s recommendation, the Navy is taking corrective action by reevaluating proposals and performing and documenting a new cost/technical tradeoff analysis,” said Marcia Hart, a spokeswoman at Naval Air Systems Command.
“As a result of implementation of corrective action we are operating in a competitive source selection environment,” she said “In order to avoid compromising the integrity of the competitive process we are limited in providing additional information at this time.”
The Navy awarded a $279-million contract to Raytheon in July for the technology development phase of the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), a program that could eventually reach billions of dollars in value.
Northrop Grumman [NOC] and BAE Systems were the other two companies to submit proposals.
The Navy plans to install the NGJs on its EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft. The first installation was scheduled for 2020. The NGJ is to replace the ALQ-99 currently deployed on EA-18Gs and legacy EA-6B Prowlers nearing the end of their service lives.