Two companies receive competitive Marine contract

Protected Vehicles Inc. of North Charleston and Force Protection Inc. of Ladson are two of nine companies across the United States awarded contracts to help develop the next generation of mine-resistant armored vehicles for the U.S. Marine Corps.

The contract is the first awarded to Protected Vehicles Inc., which was founded in December 2005, said Drew Felty, the company’s program manager.

In a significant departure from past procedure, the contract is competitive in nature. Previously, because of battlefield urgency, the Marine Corps automatically bestowed contracts on companies it used for vehicle manufacture.

The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command, based in Quantico, Va., awarded the contracts for 36 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles on Jan. 26. Under the initial contract, each of the companies will produce two vehicles in each of two different categories for test and evaluation at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

The first category of vehicles must be designed for urban combat and must be able to carry six soldiers and gear. The second category of vehicle is intended for longer troop transfers and special missions, and must have a capacity of at least 10 soldiers.

The company or companies whose vehicles are selected could ultimately be asked to build as many as 4,100 vehicles by December of this year.

“Ironically, that’s something that gives us an advantage,” Felty said. “Being a new company and a smaller company, it’s not as hard for us to focus our attention on a custom-type vehicle like this than it would be for a larger company.”

But there’s no question that if it is awarded a piece of the contract, Protected Vehicles, which has 110 employees, will grow rapidly.

“We’re absolutely going to grow. In fact, we’re hiring as we speak,” Felty said.

The company is also about to start a new welding training program in cooperation with Trident Technical College in North Charleston to meet its anticipated needs, he said.

The Marine Corps Systems Command has said in addition to the quality of the vehicles themselves, it will also consider the contractee’s ability to deliver them quickly.

“Timely delivery of vehicles into the hands of the warfighter is the critical metric,” said Paul Mann, Marine Corps Systems Command’s program manager for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles.