I just received word from the U.S. Government Accountability Office they've received written notification from the U.S. Army indicating the service will implement the GAO's suggested remedy after Colt's protest was sustained over the Army's $84m contract award to Remington Arms Company for the production of M4 and M4A1 carbines.
The Army's letter to the GAO was received September 24. As per the Competition and Contracting Act of 1984, the U.S. Army had 65 days to respond to the GAO's July 24 recommendation.
"The Army provided the amended Solicitation to vendors whose previous proposals fell within the competitive range on 21 SEP 12," says Don Jarosz, Deputy Public Affairs Officer with U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command. "The number and names of the vendors are not releasable as they are competition sensitive."
This means the Army will soon seek new bids in an amended solicitation for the M4 contract. Look to the amended solicitation to clarify how parties must take into account the licensing payments due Colt that date back to the 1997 M4 Addendum. Jarosz says the amended solicitation is only available to the offerors, but that their "approach is consistent with the corrective action suggested by the GAO."
"We've received notification from the Army that it will implement the GAO recommendation and we are reviewing next steps with our Defense team," says Teddy Novin, Freedom Group's Director of Public Affairs. "We look forward to working with the Army as we move forward with this process."
Behind the scenes, sources at Remington are not happy at the prospect of a recompetition since their pricing was exposed as part of the original award. Some have suggested Remington may simply protest the outcome of this second process should they lose and carry on a cycle of protest over the contract. I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that the merits of another protest will ultimately come up against the fact that the Army was complying with a corrective action suggested by the government. Dead end.
I'll be interested to see if the Army splits the contract between Colt and Remington in a bid to appease both parties. If you're new to the Remington M4 contract story, there's more background in our previousarticles.
