Lockheed loses out on Huey replacement protest
Summary
OSLO, Norway — The Government Accountability Office on Tuesday shot down a pre-award protest of the Air Force UH-1N Huey replacement program by Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky branch.The defense giant’s helicopter business pre-emptively filed the protest in February due to concerns about the level of intellectual property it would be forced to hand over to the U.S. government if the company’s HH-60U won the competition.In a statement, Kenneth Patton, GAO’s managing associate general counsel for procurement law, said that the organization had denied some parts of the protest and dismissed the rest.While the decision was not make public on May 22, as it contained proprietary and source selection sensitive information, a redacted version will be made available in the coming weeks, Patton continued.The HH-60U — a variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk — is widely seen as the favorite to win the competition due to the helicopter’s use throughout the U.S. services and the Air Force’s stated preference in the past to sole source the aircraft.