Texans mount campaign to keep Army truck contract

Texas lawmakers and other officials have launched a Web site intended to mobilize public support to overturn the Army's decision to award a lucrative truck contract to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Corp.

The site, DefendTexasJobs.org, is the product of a task force set up in recent weeks by state and local officials, business leaders and members of Congress to make the case that BAE Systems, which has been building the Army's Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, should continue producing the trucks at its plant in Sealy, Texas, just west of Houston.

BAE Systems is protesting the contract award -- a five-year deal whose price tag could total as much as $3 billion -- to the Government Accountability Office, which is expected to issue a ruling in mid-December.

The task force, which includes Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and GOP Rep. Michael McCaul, boasts on its site of BAE's success with the truck program. It says the FMTV program has contributed $500 million annually to the state economy and warns that losing the contract will cost the Sealy area 3,000 jobs.

The group's campaign, which provides templates for letters that supporters can write to Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Army Secretary John McHugh, is reminiscent of efforts by Boeing Co. supporters during the firm's protest last year of the Air Force's decision to select Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS to build aerial refueling tankers.

Boeing also has had success teaming up with subcontractors and labor unions to win congressional support for continued production of C-17 cargo aircraft.

But it is unclear whether such public campaigns have any sway on proceedings to consider contract protests, which focus on whether the selection process was flawed. GAO officials, who conduct their reviews largely in secret, do not weigh unsolicited input from concerned citizens or consider the impact of the contract award on local economies.

Wisconsin's congressional delegation last month criticized BAE supporters for "blatant efforts to affect the outcome of this independent, quasi-judicial review by attempting to raise protest issues through a public media campaign and through improper contact with Department of Defense officials."

As is typical of winning bidders, Oshkosh has been quiet about the contract protest. But Oshkosh CEO Robert Bohn said in a statement Tuesday that he is confident that the competition for the trucks was fair and objective.

"We expect that U.S. taxpayers will receive improved value and that U.S. soldiers will benefit from Oshkosh's expertise as a producer of high quality, high performance tactical wheeled vehicles," he said.