For the first time, the DoD will auction off as many as 4,000 surplus Humvee vehicles to the public, instead of scrapping them.
Even as controversy churns over the Pentagon's transfer of military equipment to local civilian police departments, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) sent the first batch to auction through IronPlanet's GovPlanet.com. Since bidding started at $10,000 a couple of weeks ago, pent up demand has yielded bids on nearly all of the Humvees — selling for off-road use only.
"We definitely see lots of interest, and we're certainly excited to have the opportunity to sell these," said Randy Berry, IronPlanet's senior vice president for operations and services. "These items have been scrapped up to now ... so it's a win for the taxpayers and everybody involved here."
Sitting on a dusty lot at Hill Air Force Base in Utah are 25 Humvees built between 1987 and the mid-1990s, some with visible wear and patchy camouflage paint jobs, and whose odometer readings range from 1,361 to 38,334. The public will have the chance to bid on them in a live online action on Dec. 17 and take home a Humvee that once served as a troop or cargo carrier.
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