Glock’s attempt to upend the Army’s selection of a new handgun, which comes with an estimated $580 million contract, has been shut down by the General Accounting Office.
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Its protest of a contract awarded to Sig Sauer for its P320 modular handgun was denied on Monday by the GAO, and the Army Times says that soldiers of the 101st Airborne will be the first to carry the new sidearm later this year.
One of the main attractions of the P320 is that it can be adapted to fit the needs of the shooter. For example, it has an adjustable grip, can be equipped with a silencer and can fire three different types of ammo -- 9 mm, .357 SIG and .40 S&W. The Army Times says 9mm will be the ammo of choice.
The Army spent more than a decade agonizing over a replacement for the M9 Beretta, which troops had been carrying for some 30 years, finally selecting the Sig Sauer entry earlier this year. In March, Glock filed a protest with the GAO.
In its ruling, the GAO said that although the Army could have chosen up to three of the bidders – Sig Sauer, Glock and Smith & Wesson – it had the option of making only one award.
A statement released by Ralph White, managing associate general counsel for procurement law, said: “GAO also denied the challenge to the Army’s evaluation of Glock’s proposal on the basis that any errors did not prejudice Glock in the competition.”
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While the expected value of the contract is $580 million, that amount is spread out over 10 years. The immediate value of the contract that the GAO said should go forward is about $170 million.
Sig Sauer is German-controlled, but the handgun will be manufactured in New Hampshire by an American arm of the company.
