WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has withdrawn its complaint in the US Court of Federal Claims over the Army's decision to award Oshkosh a contract to build its Humvee replacement.

"After careful deliberation, Lockheed Martin has withdrawn its protest of the [Joint Light Tactical Vehicle] contract award decision in the Court of Federal Claims," is all the company said in a brief statement sent Wednesday night.

When the Army first awarded the contract to Oshkosh in August, Lockheed filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office over the decision. GAO dismissed the protest in December stating Lockheed planned to file a complaint in federal court.

Lockheed explained at the time that new Army-supplied information that emerged toward the end of the GAO's protest process led to the company's move.

Lockheed said in December when it filed the lawsuit: "Recently, we were made aware of a substantial number of documents directly related to the competition that were not provided to the GAO or Lockheed Martin until very late in the protest process. We believe this newly discovered information should have been considered by the GAO before issuing a ruling on the protest, however, GAO declined to grant an extension to the 100-day deadline and could not consider the new documents."

Because of that decision, "we are considering all options available to us to ensure that a fair and unbiased evaluation of all available data is considered before issuing a decision in this important matter," the statement continued.

It's unclear what's in the newer documents released by the Army and why they were not produced earlier in the GAO's process. The court proceedings were all sealed.

Oshkosh beat out both Humvee-maker AM General and Lockheed for the $6.7 billion low-rate initial production contract award to build 16,901 vehicles, but the entire contract is expected to be worth up to $30 billion.

AM General, which submitted its Blast Resistant Vehicle – Off Road (BRV-O) as its bid, decided not to file a protest with the GAO.

The court last week denied Lockheed's attempt to stop Oshkosh from working on JLTV production during the legal proceedings.

Email: jjudson@defensenews.com

Twitter: @JenJudson

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

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