Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Austin) will meet with workers at BAE Systems in Sealy today to discuss ongoing efforts to ensure the U.S. Army thoroughly re-evaluates the company’s FMTV contract proposal.

 

After meeting with employees, McCaul is expected to meet with the media to provide an update on the effort to retain the military contract at the Sealy manufacturing facility.

 

In December, the Government Accountability Office issued a statement supporting BAE’s protest of the U.S. Army’s award of a “follow-on” contract to Wisconsin-based OshKosh Corporation to produce the Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, or FMTVs.

 

Those vehicles have been produced by BAE in Sealy for the past 17 years. 

 

In the statement, the GAO said it agreed with BAE that the Army’s evaluation of the bids was “flawed,” and recommended the Army re-evaluate the bids and “make a new selection decision.”

 

By statute, the Army has 60 days from the date of the decision to inform the GAO of its actions in response to the recommendations.

 

The Katy area stands to lose thousands of jobs, not to mention a $500 million impact to the economy, if Sealy-based BAE Systems does not re-gain the government contract to continue supplying the vehicles to the military.

 

Of BAE’s 3,000 employees, some 1,000 live in the Katy area. That, coupled with the economic impact the plant has on the entire region, led to the Katy Area Economic Development Corporation to get involved in the effort to save the contract to produce the FMTV.

 

The FMTV is the truck platform used by the Army for everything from transporting cargo and troops to launching missiles. There are currently more than 56,000 of the trucks, all manufactured in Sealy, in service.

 

“This is the truck the U.S. Army uses; this is the platform the Army uses,” BAE Vice President and General Manager Chris Chambers explained. “It was born and bred in Sealy.”

 

Chambers pointed out the Sealy facility has just under a million square-feet of assembly space and 3000 “very hard-working, very loyal employees.” BAE brings $2 billion into the local economy every year, and has a statewide economic impact of more than $500 million.

 

In addition to the Sealy plant, BAE has a 234,000 square-foot inventory warehouse in Sugar Land and a 35,000 square-foot warehouse in Park 10.