PR Newswire

HOUSTON, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Lawmakers, business leaders, BAE Systems employees and concerned citizens gathered outside of Minute Maid Park in Downtown Houston today to call on the Army to reconsider the flawed bidding process that has taken away a contract to build military armored vehicles at a nearby Sealy plant and will cause the loss of thousands of jobs in Texas and hit the Houston region's economy by nearly $2 billion a year.

Taking away the contract for building the Army's Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) from BAE Systems of Sealy, Texas, will cost the Houston region $1.8 billion annually if not reversed, according to an in-depth analysis conducted by the Greater Houston Partnership. Variations of the vehicles are used extensively by American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and are specially designed to protect them from a host of threats, including improvised explosive devises, or IEDs.

With a backdrop of 17 of the 40,000- to 60,000-pound heavily armored Army FMTVs and dozens of employees who stand to lose their jobs, public officials called on the Army to follow its own rules and choose the best contractor to continue building the FMTVs for U.S. troops. The Sealy plant has held the Army contract and been building the vehicles for 17 years.

"This stadium behind me, which is home to the Houston Astros Major League Baseball team, cost $250 million to build," said U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX), 10th District. "Now imagine losing more than seven of these modern stadiums a year because somebody at the Pentagon didn't do their job right."

McCaul, whose district covers Austin County just outside of Houston where the trucks are currently being built by BAE Systems, applauded the Government Accountability Office for choosing to investigate the awarding of the contract to Oshkosh Corp. Oshkosh underbid BAE Systems by at least 30 percent and failed in several areas to qualify for the contract under the Army's own rules.

"The Sealy FMTV Task Force is calling on the Army and Department of Defense to critically analyze the award to Oshkosh and either rebid this contract or award the re-buy to BAE Systems," said Lance LaCour, Co-Chairman of the Task Force and CEO of Katy Area EDC. "We feel Oshkosh underbid the contract to 'buy' the business and cannot deliver on what they have promised. In addition, several mistakes were made by the Army when evaluating costs submitted by Oshkosh and the risks in their proposal."

Today's event was organized by the Task Force with assistance from the Greater Houston Partnership.

"We will not stand idly by while losing $1.8 billion a year and what amounts to 3,400 direct and 6,700 indirect jobs in the region over a flawed decision," said Jeff Moseley, President and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership. "We intend for our collective voices to be heard."

"BAE has successfully built this vehicle for the Army while meeting stringent war-time requirements, yet the contract was awarded to a vendor with no experience manufacturing FMTVs," said Kim Meloneck, Executive Director of the Sealy Economic Development Corporation and Co-Chair of the Task Force - a coalition of industry experts, public officials and economic developers.

Members of the Task Force, which was formed in the wake of the reversal of BAE's long-term relationship of manufacturing the FMTVs, also are questioning the timing of the contract award. The FMTV contract came up for renewal two years beyond the traditional bid process schedule. Military analysts have called the winning bid financially unfeasible.

The GAO will unveil the results of its probe into the $3 billion contract award no later than Dec. 14.

The Sealy Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles Task Force is comprised of civic leaders, citizens and business owners who support the effort to keep the U.S. Army's Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles contract in Texas. The Task Force is a joint effort of the City of Sealy, Austin County, Sealy EDC, Katy Area EDC, CenterPoint Energy, Greater Houston Partnership, Governor Rick Perry, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, U.S. Senator John Cornyn and Texas State Representative Lois W. Kolkhorst, Austin County. For more information go to www.defendtexasjobs.org or visit our Facebook page, Defend Texas Jobs.

The Greater Houston Partnership is the primary advocate of Houston's business community and is dedicated to building regional economic prosperity. It represents 10 counties: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, San Jacinto and Waller. With about 2,000 Member organizations, the Partnership represents approximately one-fifth of the region's work force. Visit the Greater Houston Partnership at houston.org.