#Gao

Back in May, following the US Army’s decision to select the SIG Sauer submission to the Next Generation Squad Weapons program, Lone Star Future Weapons lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (the GAO) against the US Army’s choice. The Government Accountability Office is essentially an independent arbitrator which examines bid protests and reports ruling based on their investigation. The GAO defines a bid protest as a challenge to the terms of a solicitation or the award of a federal contract.

Lone Star Future Weapons have lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (the GAO) against the US Army’s selection of SIG Sauer’s Next Generation Squad Weapons submission.  On 19 April the US Army announced the selection of SIG’s MCX 6.8 Spear as the XM5 Rifle and the LMG-6.8 belt-fed as the XM250. SIG Sauer’s entries to the program beat out the entry from Lone Star Future Weapons, which submitted the RM277 bullpup rifle.

Last year the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requested law enforcement “covert testing” of internet firearm sales, including the use of Dark Web hidden service forums and marketplaces, in an attempt to identify potential issues. In the course of the study, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) attempted to purchase firearms from different sources on the internet, after announcing they were a ‘prohibited person’ as defined by U.S. Law.

SIG Sauer certainly didn’t waste its opportunity to show off its win of the Modular Handgun System contract at the 2017 Association of the United States Army annual meeting, bringing not XM17 MHS prototypes, but full-fledged M17 and M18 MHS production (or possibly pre-production) pistols to the show.

According to a recent article at Military.com, US Army spokespersons said in emails with the magazine that the Army would not be re-trying the Modular Handgun System competition between finalists SIG Sauer and Glock. This statement comes on the heels of Glock Vice President Josh Dorsey’s complaint that the MHS program had been left unfinished, saying that the endurance testing went “uncompleted”. However, a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) contradicts this assessment, and notes that the Army never promised in the Request for Proposal (RFP) to award more than one contract prior to Product Validation Testing (PVT).

After 13 years of searching for the US Army’s next pistol, a successor to the Beretta M9 has been selected. However, with the selection of the SIG P320 as the M17 and M18 Modular Handgun System, many individuals in the industry have been compelled to cry foul and demand the Army retry the competition between the two finalists, Glock and SIG.

Glock isn’t done yet: Despite being passed over by the Army and having their protest of the MHS contract rejected by the GAO, Glock is still hoping for a chance. In a recent interview with Matthew Cox of Military.com, Glock Vice President Josh Dorsey spoke out against the Army’s decision to adopt the SIG Sauer P320 as the new M17 Modular Handgun System. Dorsey’s comments, excerpted below, express dissatisfaction with the Army’s selection process:

Since the Government Accountability Office’s decision to reject Glock’s protest of the Modular Handgun System contract award to SIG Sauer, the GAO has released a statement. The 17 page document outlines not only the reason for the GAO’s decision, but provides insight as to the deciding factors in the MHS contract award as well. Chiefly, the document reveals that SIG substantially underbid Glock, and that this – and not any technical difference between the competitors’ pistols – was the deciding factor in the contract award:

It is finally official: The SIG P320 will definitely be the US Army’s next service handgun. Soon after the January announcement of SIG Sauer’s win of the half-billion-dollar MHS contract, gunmaker Glock filed a protest on the decision with the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO had until Monday, June 5, to make a decision on whether to hold up the contract or allow the program to continue with procurement of the SIG handgun. Today, the news is out: The GAO has rejected Glock’s protest, and the MHS program can now move forward with procurement of the SIG M17, according to a story from Army Times.