Investors had pushed Workhorse shares to record highs. They expected him to get at least part of the multi-billion dollar contract. When this did not happen, the Workhorse stock lost 50% of its value in two days. Analysts, in turn, have lowered their price targets. How can the USPS perform a two-year test and evaluation and then award the entire contract to a supplier who has the worst operating and maintenance costs but promises to be able to deliver a superior electric van at some point in the future if the USPS gives it money for research and development? Workhorse Group has not disputed its failure to secure a USPS contract and may not have time to do so, according to people familiar with the matter. Workhorse officials sold shares at the same time that the company had confidential interactions with postal managers reporting that their bid for the huge contract was in trouble. “The NGDV contract with Oshkosh Defense covers both zero-emission battery electric vehicles and low-emission low-emission vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines, and we have the resources and capabilities to deliver any mix of USPS orders,” he said. Stories like these are possible thanks to our followers like you. Your support will allow us to continue to produce quality journalism.
However, Workhorse said in its challenge to the contract that the USPS “put its thumb on Workhorse” and removed its prototype from consideration due to a “safety incident” caused by the error of a USPS test track pilot. Since the postal contract was awarded to a competitor, Workhorse has sued the government, trying to reverse the postal decision or win part of the tender. But on Sept. 14, he dropped the lawsuit, expressing hope the move would improve his chances of future federal contracts. The electric vehicle startup lost the contract in February when the USPS selected a defense contractor Workhorse Group (NASDAQ: WKHS) expects a “long process” to change the U.S. Postal Service`s decision to award the next-generation post-truck business to defense contractor Oshkosh Truck Corp. (NYSE: OSK). But in a statement, the agency said it also looks forward to Oshkosh moving forward with the treaty. The first new trucks are expected to enter service in 2023. “While tenders are an integral part of the public procurement process, we do not comment on such procedures,” Alexandra C.
Hittle, director of global marketing and communications at Oshkosh Defense, said in an email to The Verge. “We are proud that the USPS has chosen Oshkosh Defense to meet the requirements of the NGDV program, and we look forward to putting these high-performance vehicles in the hands of the postmen.” A company on the shortlist for building the next-generation postal delivery vehicle said it was unfairly disqualified from including more than $3 billion in the contract. Whatever trucks the USPS buy to replace its current fleet, they will be a massive upgrade. The LLVs currently in service were built between 1987 and 1994 and are expected to be retired after a maximum of 24 years. All trucks are older than that at this point, but the postmen may have to drive them a few more miles before new trucks arrive. Workhorse said in a statement that it could not disclose further details, “but would provide updates when appropriate and permitted under its non-disclosure agreement.” A judge is likely to unseal a version of the complaint in the coming weeks. Oshkosh, which has Ford Motor Co. as its main supplier, will assemble the new mail truck at its own plant in Spartanburg, South .C. After Workhorse disputed the price, Oshkosh`s CEO said they won the contract fairly and that “we know how to do it big on government contracts.” Behind the scenes, Workhorse faced further challenges with the postal contract that drove up its shares. Loveland, Ohio-based Workhorse was stunned last week when the Postal Service awarded the Wisconsin-based company a 10-year contract, initially worth $482 million. Oshkosh manufactures military vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances.
USPS expects the first delivery vehicles to arrive on delivery routes by 2023 and gasoline-powered vehicles manufactured by Oshkosh can be upgraded to keep up with advances in electric vehicle technology. Now that Oshkosh has bought Pratt & Miller (from the global glory of racing and defense contracts), there is an endless supply of design and engineering expertise that simply does not exist at Workforce. In contrast, Irwin, the analyst at Roth Capital, called the USPS contract decision “shocking” in a March note to investors. In asking to seal the complaint, Workhorse told the court that the document contained “confidential and proprietary information about source selection and the offer” on its bid and that future bids would contain or are likely to contain similar information about competitors` bids. “The allegations are that basically [the postal service] never planned to seriously consider Workhorse, and they put their thumbs on the scales to vote against Workhorse,” a source told the Post. The USPS and Oshkosh do not comment on the lawsuit, and Workhorse said it is “currently unable to provide more information about it, but will provide updates as necessary and to the extent permitted by its non-disclosure agreement under the NEXT-Generation Delivery Vehicle (USPS) program.” The Postal Service announced oshkosh Defense as the winner of the contest to build the postal car in February. Under the terms of the first agreement, Oshkosh, Wisc., based in Oshkosh, will receive a $482 million contract to complete the production design of its post-truck offering. The agreement also provides funds for Oshkosh to pay for the necessary tools and plant configurations before production begins. “GOOD NEWS FOR OHIO! I just spoke with Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, who informed me that subject to the UAW deal, etc., GM will sell its beautiful Lordstown plant to Workhorse, where they plan to build electric trucks,” Trump tweeted. THE UNITED STATES IS BOOMING! But of the options that were on Workhorse`s table, this one might prove to be the most effective in helping the company`s legal team understand why the USPS chose Oshkosh.
“You`re going to see everything, the whole file, how [the bids] were evaluated, the price rating,” a person familiar with the postal service`s contracting process told The Verge earlier this year. However, this process will likely take place under a protection order, so Workhorse`s lawyers can ultimately only tell the company whether or not they have a good chance of winning. “Make no mistake: Like the current rule, and if insiders don`t act in good faith when using 10b5-1 plans, those plans won`t provide them with an affirmative defense,” Gensler said. In July 2020, the company`s insiders cashed in more than 2.5 million of their shares over several months to a week before the postal service detonated the bomb that Workhorse would not receive part of the huge contract. Oshkosh said he was still in the process of completing the design of the new vehicle and they wouldn`t hit the road until 2023. The USPS has agreed to invest $482 million in advance to prepare the new vehicle. Oshkosh had worked with Ford during the bidding process, but the automaker repeatedly declined to comment on whether he was involved in the defense company`s final pitch, which is very different from spy images of previous prototypes based on the transit van. WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) – Electric vehicle company Workhorse Group (WKHS.
O) filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Postal Service`s decision in February to sign a multibillion-dollar, 10-year contract with Oshkosh Defense (OSK. N) Production of a new generation of postal delivery vehicles. The seller also claims that in awarding its contract, the USPS agreed to pay Oshkosh $482 million to complete the development of its vehicle concept before starting production. In February, the U.S. Postal Service awarded a contract for up to 165,000 new postal pickup trucks worth up to $6 billion to defense contractor Oshkosh. The search for new delivery vehicles took about seven years, and when the internet learned what the eccentric new pickup truck would look like, a lot of cheerfulness followed. But not everyone was happy. Workhorse, formerly known as Amp Electric Vehicles, was one of two other contractors applying for the USPS contract (the other was Karsan). This week, Workhorse sued the postal service on the terms of the deal, particularly whether or not the postman had seriously considered Workhorse`s electric vehicles as a suitable replacement for Grumman`s “long-life vehicles” that now frequently deliver mail. “Instead of acknowledging the obvious mistakes of the drivers, the USPS not only dishonestly blamed Workhorse, but also took this incident as its reason for `figurehead` for not being able to award the contract to Workhorse,” the company said.
After a meeting with the Postal Service on Wednesday, Workhorse said it would “follow the right procedures as set by the USPS, and also look for other options available to us,” Workhorse CEO Duane Hughes said in a press release Thursday. Workhorse shares rose in September as the market focused more on the postal contract. Shares were also pushed higher by growing investor enthusiasm around Lordstown Motors (Workhorse held a 10% stake in it), which went public later in the fall. The protest against the offer, first reported by Reuters, only adds to the review of the award of the 10-year contract to produce up to 165,000 delivery vehicles for USPS. Democrats in Congress have agitated the awarding of contracts due to a lack of consideration for electric vehicles. Originally submitted under seal in the United States….