Truck Times

Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan on Monday criticized an argument advanced by a Lexington Institute analyst, Loren Thompson, who Brogan said indicated in a recent report that there would be "potential conflict" between the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle program and the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles "rebuy" effort, both won by Oshkosh.

BAE Systems, the FMTV incumbent, has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office, and Thompson of the Lexington Institute wrote in a Sept. 17 "issue brief" that M-ATV was a factor ignored by the Army in its award to Oshkosh.

At an M-ATV display at the Pentagon this week, Brogan denied the report's claim, telling reporters "that's just not the case" and called discussion of overlap between the two efforts "a pure red herring."

Now, Thompson has posted a new brief on the matter, noting Brogan's comments.

"The offending passage was actually part of a single sentence, and not central to my main thesis: that the Army performed an incomplete and amateurish evaluation of bids when it awarded a contract under the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) program to the Oshkosh Corporation," Thompson writes. "I predicted the Government Accountability Office would agree with protests lodged by losing bidders BAE Systems and Navistar, forcing a new competition."

Thompson stands by his prediction, arguing the Army still made critical errors in awarding the contract to Oshkosh, including simply accepting the company's significantly lower price without a rigorous analysis and ignoring the risk posted by the company's inexperience.

"GAO will see this award for what it was, and act accordingly," he concludes. Thompson, who also runs a for-profit consulting shop, has told InsideDefense.com that BAE Systems is one of his clients.

According to his spokeswoman, Brogan was unavailable for comment today.