U.S. Army GCV Development Contracts Awarded

 

BAE GCV concept

Aug 18, 2011 By Paul McLeary AviationWeek.com

WASHINGTON - Industry teams led by BAE Systems and General Dynamics Land System were awarded technology development phase contracts for the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program late Aug. 18.

A third team led by SAIC that submitted a bid earlier this year was shut out of the competition. BAE’s fixed-price-incentive-fee contract is for $449,964,969, while General Dynamics received an award for $439,715,950. The Army has set a contract completion date of June 26, 2013, for this phase of the competition.

While the award will surely cheer the two winning teams, the GCV program is not without future challenges. Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter signed an acquisition decision memorandum Aug. 17 that mandates that the armed service perform two reviews of alternatives at the same time the winning bidders continue work on the program.

The memo also bumps up the average procurement unit-cost of each vehicle to $13 million from a previously stated target of $9-10.5 million. The new figure includes spare parts. In his Aug. 17 memo, Carter wrote that completing the program “within the department’s cost and schedule constraints is strongly dependent on aggressive exploration of the capabilities trade space and the full range of alternatives prior to finalizing requirements.”

The Army plans to buy around 1,800 GCVs to replace the aging Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and has said that it plans to spend $7.6 billion between 2012 and 2017 on GCV research and development.