#Protest

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.

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.

Full disclosure: This news has been out for some time but no one has reported it. 

I’ve rather enjoyed the hub-ub over the recent protest filed by Glock on the XM-17 Modular Handgun System award to Sig Sauer. The community is all abuzz with rumors and speculation, mostly centering on how Glock would not likely have a manual safety (they do for the submission) and how the MHS is the “only” modular system (it was not, two pins on a Glock and out pops the fire control group).

SIG Sauer is not quite out of the woods yet regarding their recent Modular Handgun System contract win. Finalist Glock – who for many was the favorite to win – has protested the XM17 contract award. SIG won the MHS contract earlier this year with a variant of their P320 handgun based on the Compact frame. The news of SIG’s win was announced on January 19th, the day before the inauguration of the new US President and his administration.