Government Accountability Office Denies Glock, Inc.’s MHS Pistol Protest

Glock G19 Gen4 Pistol (original image by Aaron Ragusa )
Glock G19 Gen4 Pistol (original image by Aaron Ragusa )

GLOCK, Inc.SMYRNA, GA.-(Ammoland.com)- The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has denied GLOCK, Inc.’s protest of the Army’s award of the Modular Handgun System (MHS) contract to Sig Sauer.

The focus of GLOCK, Inc.’s protest was that the U.S. Army did not complete the testing outlined in its Request for Proposal (RFP) before awarding the MHS contract to Sig Sauer based only on limited initial testing. During this initial testing, there were no significant differences between the GLOCK and Sig pistols based upon the technical factors that were evaluated. In fact, Sig Sauer was awarded the MHS contract prematurely based upon price.

The remainder of the testing outlined in the RFP that was not conducted was intended to competitively evaluate the two proposals based upon more comprehensive and stringent testing. This testing would have measured the service life, safety, reliability, and accuracy of the pistols in use while being fired by the warfighters.

“By not completing the testing on both proposals on a competitive basis, the Army never determined which pistol would better meet the warfighter’s needs,” said GLOCK, Inc. Vice President Josh Dorsey. We are confident had the Army completed the testing, the GLOCK 19 would have outperformed the Sig P320, as it had in recent testing conducted by a leading federal law enforcement agency which resulted in GLOCK, Inc. being awarded that contract. GLOCK pistols have been battle proven by select units of the U.S. military forces for the past ten years. GLOCK, Inc. stands with the men and women serving in the Armed Forces and will continue to give them its full support.

We thank our technical team for submitting a pistol that met or exceeded all of the Army’s requirements. We also extend our appreciation to our MHS partner, Vista Outdoor’s Federal Cartridge, for creating the most effective and innovative pistol round we have ever tested, which performed flawlessly in the GLOCK 19 MHS model.

About GLOCK, Inc.

GLOCK is a leading global manufacturer of firearms. The simple, safe design of GLOCK’s polymer-based pistols revolutionized the firearms industry and made GLOCK pistols a favorite of military and law enforcement agencies worldwide and among pistol owners. In 2017, GLOCK celebrates its 31st Anniversary in the United States. Renowned for featuring three safeties, GLOCK pistols offer users of every lifestyle confidence they can rely on. GLOCK, Inc. is based in Smyrna, Georgia. For more information, please visit us.glock.com.

15 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Steve Hagen

Each branch of the U.S. military is required to live within their allocated budget. Weapon systems such as the F35 or the newest super carrier all pull $ from the respective budgets. Some are wanted, while others are desperately needed like the MHS replacement. Life cycle, maintenance, and replacement, all play a major element in deciding, by Congress, who gets what and how many. It will be interesting to learn down the road called time how well a polymer frame pistol performs being given the destructive environment in which reliability is paramount. While many lament the M9 it did share… Read more »

spaceman

I bought G19 gen 2 when it came out. No mims in that. After less than 2000 rounds the extractor cracked. Now with all mims you don’t know what you’re getting for Sig or Glock. Sig has their mims made in India as you know. There is no long term reliability studies with P320 as only been out less than 3 years but I bet the complaints will start pouring in sooner or later.

PastorGlock

The fbi wrote their requirments to the specifications of the sig. And what did Glock do? They built a pistol that met those requirments and won the contract. The Navy seals chose the G19. A family member of mine who is currently serving in the army and is over seas on his 2nd deployment was hoping the army was gonna go Glock along with some other individuals he serves with. As Albert stated above its all about the money. I personally have over 60k through my 3 Glocks and only 2 malfunctions. One was a stove pipe while shooting weak… Read more »

Jon

I have both Sigs and Glocks. All are high round count pieces. No problems with either brand. Both are great firearms. Both will do the job.

Albert

WAKE UP people; it’s all about money, MY question is how much did SIG ‘kick back’ to government officials to get the contract? SCREW the troops; it’s all about the money for the bureaucrats……DRAIN THE SWAMP!!……………..EVERYTHING about Washington DC is C O R R U P T…..to the CORE!!

BS

Albert, your a smart man!!

Dave from San Antonio

Finally. Someone who understands how things “really” work. Now…if the testing was not done properly or completed as it was supposed to be done…Glock has a point. Proving that point, though, will be next to impossible, unless someone from the Army or the group doing the testing steps forward with absolute proof.

Kristopher

Awesome post ! Thank you for sharing

William M Butler, MSG USA ret

What part of Glock meets the “modular” description? Replaceable grips really don’t meet the definition. Glock makes a fine firearm, it just failed the reading comprehension portion of the solicitation.

RSic

Stop your crying, you lost, Glock has been giving away pistols to law enforcement agencies for years, and using them as publicity and over charging everyone else, most of us read the Army times, and we also know about the failure with the G22 and the FBI taking the G17 at cost instead of the Sig 320 which the majority of the field agents requested, Glock perfection, yet most replace one thing to just about everything in the pistols they make

Eric_CA

Very true about Glock giving away their pistols. It;s all in the book Glock: The Rise in America’s Gun.

El Raton de la Frontera

The Glock, by it’s very design nature, wins! I have shot, and carried, both Sigs and Glocks for 37 years. I have never had a Sig make it past 125,000 rinds without a major breakage, usually 75,000. On the other hand, 300,000 rounds through a Glock 19 without a major breakage is not unusual. I have carried Sigs in the jungles of South America, and the desert. I have carried Glocks in the jungles, swamps, mountains, cities, deserts, air and sea. The Glock wins, hands down.

VenomR

Dude stop with your war stories, we are all Rambo’s behind the our computer screen, Glock themselves claim replace parts in pistols after 20,000 rounds, besides the Army tested several hundred of each pistol in their competition, and Glocks along with others, suffered catastrophic failures under 35,000 rounds the Sig 320 was the only pistol to surpass, read Army times.

Vanns40

Every firearm manufacturer has had guns that have suffered early failures. Your points are irrelevant. If the testing was not completed as it was supposed to be then Glock has a point, if it was then they don’t, simple as that. As for your first comment, how many rounds have YOU put through any one pistol that you can comment on? The OP gave his experience, in the field, with both makes. Unless you personally know him and want to call him a liar it’s best to stay away from the ad hominem attacks. I’ve put more than 200,000 rounds… Read more »

VenomR

My point is fact, you can’t accept Glock failure, not only for not having a modular pistol, but of the malfunctions with the 3 different calibers used for testing, read Armytimes.com. As for me I have 18years as an armor and am part owner at an indoor range. So I’ve seen many different failures in all types of guns, and my experience and of many others metal will last a lot longer than polymer, have had G17 slides crack with +p or in the G22 with the 40 s&w and these have happened with in the 10 to 15k mark