The Sig Sauer P320RX pistol. Read the full review.
The Government Accountability Office denied on Monday Glock’s request that the Army reconsider its decision to award a 10-year, $580 million handgun contract to Sig Sauer.
Glock filed the protest in February, claiming that the Army improperly evaluated its proposal and that the original Request for Proposal required the Army to award multiple contracts, according to the Army Times.
The GAO rejected both claims. Ralph White, managing associate general counsel for procurement law at GAO, said in an email to the Army Times that any errors made in proposal evaluations “did not prejudice Glock in the competition.” He also noted that the RFP required the Army to make only one award, although three were permitted under the proposal’s term.
In January the Army awarded the much-coveted Modular Handgun Contract to Sig Sauer for the company’s P320 to replace the M9 Beretta. The contract is worth nearly $600 million and requires the manufacture of over 300,000 handguns. Multiple firearms manufacturers submitted bids, but the Army ultimately decided to go with the relatively new P320.
“By maximizing full and open competition across our industry partners, we have optimized private sector advancements in handguns, ammunition and magazines, and the end result will ensure a decidedly superior weapon system for our warfighters,” Army Acquisition Executive Steffanie Easter said in a January press release.
Glock already holds handgun contracts with the FBI, ATF, Army Rangers, and elements of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, but the Army contract is more lucrative than any of these by far. With such a large contract up for grabs, it was expected that one of the losing companies would challenge the Army’s decision.
The GAO was responsible for arbitrating the dispute, and they’ve spent the last three months analyzing Glock’s claims, led by attorney Stephanie Magnell. The GAO is a non-partisan, congressional advisory agency that acts as a watchdog for the federal government’s commercial contracts and as an ombudsman to issue legal decisions on bid disputes and protests.
Any of the three parties involved – Glock, Sig Sauer, or the Army – can request a reconsideration of the GAO’s denial. Each entity has 10 days after the decision to file the request, which gives Glock until June 15 to request one final look at the Army’s decision.
Sig Sauer released the P320 in 2014. It can be adapted to fire 9 mm, .357 SIG and .40 S&W ammunition, though the Army will use the 9 mm variant.
Like the other handguns submitted to the competition, the P320’s modular design allows for maximum customizability. Users – in this case, members of the Army – can interchange grip sizes and barrel and slide lengths to achieve the desired feel and performance.
Really? What are some of those major issues? Hell I still shoot my gen1 17 and I quit keeping the record after 143,950 rounds. Oh, ok, I did replace the barrel 2 years ago and some assorted springs along the way, and I lost my plastic rear sight once but that gun, along with the other 11 glocks I own have suffered surprisingly few issues along the way and every one was corrected by me.
Please visit Smallarmssolutions and watch this mans video about this “evaluation ” the Army performed and you’ll see that Sig was given this contract and did in no way shape or form win. I hate Army politics where weapons selection is concerned. Its NEVER about giving soldiers the best weapon for the job.
Chris Bartocci is an industry professional of many years and is an encyclopedic wonder where military firearms are concerned, they have been his livelihood and passion for a very long time and has been involved with military arms his entire life. This man knows more than you, me and probably everybody else here. He absolutely destroys this RFP and how they totally screwed it up and violated their own procedures to give Sig this contract and this isnt just his opinions, he can prove every word of it.
Major issues huh? It seems Sig is the one who has already recalled this pistol havent they?
I’m not knocking Sig, I like some of their stuff, but to say Glock is in any way inferior is ludicrous, ludicrous I say.
In the words of Sleepy Joe Biden, “Come on man”.
You fanbois are funny. I always get a laugh out of the reactions with Glock is dissed.
However, I have to admit that I did scratch my head over this one. There is no simpler autoloading handgun than the Glock. It reminds me of the TV commercial, “…so simple a cave man can do it.” Glocks are not elegant or sophisticated, but like the proverbial watch, they take a licking and keep on ticking.
In the interest of full disclosure, I don’t have a dog in this fight, owning neither a Glock or a Sig. When you grew up on a crisp 1911 trigger, the Glock is hard to gravitate towards, and Sigs are for people who don’t know CZs.
The Beretta 92 is by far the finest military handgun the US has ever issued- why to to some plastic junk?
Glocks are fine weapons with an extensive and impressive service history. They would have been a fine choice, however you can’t really complain if you don’t even satisfy the competition requirements.
The P320 is actually a fully modular platform and satisfies all the requirements. The End.
The P320 is not a perfect firearm, it’s not the best pistol, but it is a damn good pistol and out of the box it beats the snot out of a Glock. Sorry, it’s true. How many folks who own and ACTUALLY shoot their Glocks haven’t swapped out the sights, trigger, connector, etc. etc. I’m willing to bet very few. I’m not talking about the Johnny-One-Box that shoots a for 20 minutes once a month.
I’ve got three P320’s, I’ve got five Glocks. I like them all and shoot the piss out of them. I like them both for very different reasons. I’ve had to mess with the Glocks way more to get them the way I like it so that I can shoot them all day long.
P320 out of the box with new sights is ready to go. Add new sights and it’s party time.
FN Hershal produces roughly 75% of all the firearms in the army today. A large portion of the m16/m4 , the m249, m240 and m2 are all made by FN. We haven’t had an American company make the majority of our firearms in a while.
I own a Sig 226 and never had a misfire in over 20 years. Glocks had some major issues and when your life is on the line you need a firearm that works
The 1911A1 in 45ACP is the best and only choice. And how many of the jokers posting on this have ever shot a man with a sidearm? But of course, weapons are like horses, women and cars, never find two men that agree on ’em.
And there is something fishy about the cost per unit……
Award: $580,000,000. Number of guns: “More than 300,000”. Assuming 300,000 guns, that’s $1,933 a piece! Now the most expensive version (X-Five) is only $850 retail. That should be at least 682,000 guns! That isn’t even with a mfg/volume discount!
Please be bait… the contract also includes servicing and ammunition among other things
It’s simple really. Glock doesn’t have a real safety. Too many soldiers will have negligent discharges, he’ll, there are too many with the beretta which has a safety.
And that’s really what it’s all about in the end. The external safety. The fact that you have to pull the trigger to disassemble the weapon.
They will drop the Sig in a few years and wish they had never adopted it.
“From an avid and experienced shooter/gunsmith~~”SIG SAUER IS A FAR SUPERIOR WEAPON THAN GLOCK EVER WAS!” (OR EVER WILL BE!)
They are both great firearms, I own them both. As well as 2 H&ks, and Kimber
As a private owner, one must check the warranty. Glock, one year. Sig, life How can you compare? Plus the Sig polymers are cheaper than the Glocks. I own the SP2022, P250 (.45 & .40). Also VP9, Walther PPS, Kimber 9 SSII and numerous other makes. Only the Glock has the pistol grip at that weird angle and it is ugly to boot LOL.
“As a private owner, one must check the warranty. Glock, one year. Sig, life How can you compare?”
Yeah, it’s like autoparts warranties. Autozone offers lifetime warranties on their parts … BECAUSE YOU’LL NEED IT.
LOL
Glocks are GARBAGE! Good decision Army!
This is my personal opinion. This contract should not have been given to any firearm company that does not design and manufacture inside the United States of America…period. That’s a lot of money to stimulate our own economy and create jobs here. We are in a different time season of life with lots going on abroad and manufacturing, building, business of any kind needs to return home. I happen to love many of the foreign firearms, especially the German/Austrian variety but feel the Armed Forces could lead on this by example. You won’t find military tech built for the U.S. in foreign chip plants either.
The last time the military wanted a new handgun, they decided on the Beretta 92. However, our law stipulates that any new arms have to be made domestically. However, the Beretta was made overseas, not here. Beretta remedied that by building a new factory here. Problem solved.
You may be interested to know that SIG’s are made in New Hampshire. Problem solved.
I liken the case against Glock to that of J.D. Rockefeller, where Rockefeller just DROVE his competition out of business. Thank God that didn’t happen here. I am no fan of Glock. I think the guns are grossly overrated and oversold.
I think that a 1911 style handgun (colt 45) was not any good. Projectiles were too slow. This is coming from shooting 44 mags. I shot over 1,000 pounds of 45acp with terrible results and thought the caliber or pistol was lacking. One year ago I bought a g21 and put 13 rounds of win 230gr. fmjs in the mag. Then I drove a stake in the ground leaving about 12 inches by 1.5 inches exposed and moved back 50 feet and shot 10 of 13 rounds in the stake. The ergonomics of the weapon were the difference, not the slow projectile. This is why I think 1911 style guns are overrated, but the Glock ergo is better for me and I haven’t had any issues with it. Shoot what works for you regardless of caliber. As we all know the government doesn’t always make good decisions.
I understand the urge to arm the Armed Forces with American only products, but I think it is more important to put the absolute best equipment into a soldier’s hand. If SIG outperformed everyone else, so be it.
I was personally rooting for FN to enter & win, but they (like Glock) would have not fallen into the “all-American” category. I was kind of surprised that S&W didn’t win, but then, I prefer SIG to them any day of the week.
I agree completely. There are several high quality manufacturers in the US that should be fully capable of providing a high quality firearm and spending the dollars here at home.
I agree ,or the most build a plant for any massive orders of any weapon for the US military .