Sierra Nevada alleges USAF violated rules for $1B HH-60W contract

摘要

Sierra Nevada Corp. has filed a lawsuit against the Air Force in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, alleging the service violated competition rules when deciding to award Sikorsky a nearly $1 billion sole-source contract to upgrade the HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter. The April 12 complaint calls on the court to direct the Air Force to accept multiple bids, warning a denial of the protest could embolden the largest defense contractors to exploit their data rights over major weapon systems ~ an issue at the heart of the lawsuit -- to coerce the government into awarding them lucrative deals without competition. The court released a redacted version of Sierra Nevada's complaint April 19. The Air Force indicated in February its intention to sole-source the upgrades contract to Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, citing "unacceptable delays" if the service partners with another company. Sikorsky is developing the HH-60W, which is currently undergoing tests and will eventually replace the Air Force's legacy HH-60G Pave Hawk, which performs personnel recovery missions.