Lockheed protests Navy contract award to Raytheon

“After careful consideration, Lockheed Martin has protested
the Navy’s award of the Air and Missile Defense Radar contract,” Lockheed
spokesman Keith Little said in a statement.

{mosads}“We submitted a technically compliant solution at a very
affordable price. We do not believe the merits of our offering were properly
considered during the evaluation process.”

The AMDR radar will operate with the Aegis missile system, which
is produced by Lockheed, on the Navy’s destroyers.

Nine New Jersey lawmakers, led by Rep. Jon Runyan (R), sent a letter to the Navy secretary last week questioning the Navy’s decision to award the contract to Raytheon. Lockheed’s facility in Moorestown, N.J., does work on the Aegis system. 

The lawmakers, including Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Jeff Chiesa (R-N.J.), said Lockheed “offered the lowest cost AMDR solution, which is low-risk and meets the key Department of the Navy areas of affordability, ship fit, scalability and technological maturity.”

“We simply do not understand the Navy’s decision to begin working with a new company on this critical program,” the lawmakers wrote. 

Raytheon spokeswoman Carolyn Beaudry said the company remains “confident in our proposed solution.”

“We’re eager to move forward and deliver this much needed AMDR capability to the Navy,” she said. “We’ll trust the process and will work closely with our customer to mitigate any resulting delays once resolved.”

Lockheed’s protest will be decided by the Government Accountability Office, which resolves contract disputes.