This is from September: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...t-may-be-added-because-of-record-sales.15775/
Agreed. If true, this contract would be a major deviation from congressionally mandated procurement procedures. The idea that an untested vehicle would be purchased in bulk, manufactured BEFORE civilian orders were available, and done w/o significant leaks w/in the government/military community is ridiculous. Other brands want to compete for US business, there has to be a transparent bidding process. All of which would take place AFTER an announcement (made public) that said US Gov't agency was in need of a particular vehicle. Ordering a few F-250s is one thing; ordering >5k units of a brand-new model?? This just doesn't make sense.
Troy, you funny.
Maybe it was an executive order? Or Home Land Security??
Not to mention that pricing has even been announced!
I hear that . . . "Almost" ? TIME is of the essence (for me) as momma used to say a lot when we boys dawdled to long !AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
$&@?!&@&%#^@$&@&?!!!!!!
This is just about enough news to make me give up!
Gonna turn me right off and seek out another Company . . . after ALL these DECADES of Loyalty ! I may have to settle for something a bit less but the competition is growing and you need to take mind of that as well ! ? Keeping your Bread & Butter Folks (employees) "happy" goes a LONG way, far as . . . . ? I can attest to that, from other job experiences. Please Keep these - 
- on schedule . And yea we don't like it, but we unfortunately get it, that the Feds. have 1st dibs ! Why look a "gift horse" in the mouth and turn away, when you can use THIS as experience and training ! Work out all the kinks and bugs during this ~7000 JT run, then build US some "trouble free" JT's ! Works for me . . . as long as No Strike ensues ! 
?
I fully understand and I support you guys doing whatever you need to do to secure a good contract and benefits to have a decent living with dignity for you and your family. You guys make great products already and a big reason why I'm buying a Gladiator is because it is the only truck with a manual transmission that is built by union workers.
Maybe the whole thread should be...
Surprisingly, we actually have established rules that allow us to do procurement actions like this already. Not to stir the pot too much, since this scenario doesn’t match up with what I'll explain later (7,000 JTs at ~$30,000), but there are many sole source contracts that can occur without bids, and are a lot more common than you might think. Most contracts do get put out for bid, but that is all driven by requirements gathering due to a capability gap or urgent need. For instance, if I want to buy a bunch of computers that are the same model, I can either solicit a bid or sometimes even use a contract vehicle that gives me a price that’s already been negotiated between the manufacturer and the government. If instead I have a list of requirements for what I want my computer to do (shall have this much RAM, HDD capacity, blah blah blah), it may hit the streets on FedBiz, a specific Request for Proposal to 3+ vendors of my choosing, or if it’s something special, it may go out via R&D channels from the Rapid Innovation Fund to select from a single or multiple sources. The most common and accepted justification of sole source is that the product or service is “unique and innovative”; The Fed. Acquisition Regulations defines that term in Part 2, as well as governs/describes the process for “other than full and open competition” (sole source). Feel free to hit up FAR subpart 6.3 for more info on that—only the third time in my career that I’ve encouraged anyone to read the FAR in their free time.
. They have been awarded for upwards of $80M, though, with certain approvals and processes. There’s also some trickery in terms of “base years” and “option years”—the total sole source contract value could be $75M, but the base year (first year) is $15M, with four additional $15M option years available for execution.
