ST Kinetics in contention for US Marine Corps contract
Total value of the contract with all options exercised is about S$1.63 billion.
SINGAPORE — Singapore defence company Singapore Technologies (ST) Kinetics has cleared a hurdle to go heads-up with a British firm for a US$1.2 billion (S$1.63 billion) contract with the United States Marine Corps.
ST Kinetics had earlier been awarded a US$121.5 million contract to supply 13 amphibious combat vehicle prototypes, known as Terrex 2, to the US Marine Corps. But a competitor, General Dynamics Land Systems, had challenged the US Marine Corps’ evaluation in not awarding the tender to its lower-rated, lower-priced proposal.
A statement from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) on March 15 concluded that the Marine Corps’ evaluation of the General Dynamics proposal was reasonable and consistent with the evaluation scheme identified in the solicitation.
It added: “GAO also concluded that the decision to select SAIC’s higher-rated, but higher-priced proposal was within the agency’s discretion when conducting a best-value procurement.”
With the ruling, ST Kinetics gets into the first phase of a two-step procurement process. It will compete for the contract to supply the US Marine Corps with more than 200 vehicles by 2020, against BAE Systems. Each contractor has to build 13 vehicles for field tests by the Marine Corps lasting two years.
ST Kinetics is partnering with US firm Science Applications International Corp (SAIC). They beat three other rivals for this phase. The total value of the contract with all options exercised is about US$1.2 billion, it said.
ST Kinetics and SAIC is now moving into the engineering, manufacturing and development phase of the programme, a press statement on March 17 from ST Engineering said. ST Engineering is the parent company of ST Kinetics.
The Terrex 2 is an 8x8 wheeled armoured amphibious combat vehicle that can transport a combat load of up to 11 soldiers and three crew members.
In water, it has a hydraulically driven propulsion system with full independent thrust control authority, allowing it to operate even through 1.8m high plunging surf.
ST Kinetics president Ravinder Singh said in the statement: “What we have now achieved in Terrex 2 is a testimony to the maturity of our defence engineering expertise, allowing us to compete against established global defence companies.”
A version of the Terrex, the Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicle, is used by the Singapore Armed Forces.
It has seven variants including command, trooper and medical versions.
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Reprinted from Today Online website, Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.