Empire State Today

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today announced that L3Harris Technologies in Rochester has been selected by the U.S. Army to manufacture over 4,000 Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit (HMS) radios under a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) award as part of multi-vendor Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts that Schumer announced in 2016. Specifically, L3Harris will produce 4,343 HMS Manpack Radios under a $196,000,000 purchase order from the Army.

“The U.S. Army has tuned to the right frequency and recognized what I have long known: that L3Harris and Rochester’s top tier workforce are at the forefront of cutting-edge radio technology, that maintains American military excellence and keeps our troops safe in the field. This $196 million contract will support good-paying jobs here in Rochester, support our troops and give a boost to the entire Finger Lakes economy,” said Senator Schumer. “These continued contracts show that the U.S. Army recognizes that L3Harris has proven time and time again that it can make superior radios for the U.S. military and our allies across the globe. I was proud to work hard on behalf of this world-class producer of radios, and will always fight for investments that both protect our troops and provide major support for the Rochester-Finger Lakes economy.”

“Our L3Harris AN/PRC-158 Manpack radio delivers critical capabilities to the U.S. Army and across the Department of Defense. Now, more than ever, a highly resilient communications capability is needed for both ground and airborne forces. This radio is a testament to the world class technology solutions we provide to those who serve our nation,” said Sam Mehta, L3Harris President of Communication Systems. “We appreciate Senator Schumer’s commitment to the Rochester-based workforce and his continued partnership”.

Schumer a long history of prolonged pushes for a competitive playing field to allow L3Harris, previously Harris Corporation, to have an equal opportunity to bring innovative work to Rochester which culminated in the Army selecting Harris in 2015 as a suppliers for the Army’s multi-year $3.9 billion IDQ Leader radio contract (formerly named the “Rifleman radio”) and in 2016 as a supplier for the Army’s $12.7 billion IDIQ Manpack radio contract. Harris’ win to supply radios under these two multi-billion dollar contracts followed years of work by Schumer to reverse the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) then-proposed plan to award these contracts to just one company, through a sole-source, single-vender procurement process.  Schumer said the single-vendor selection process would have created an unfair playing field for all vendors, including Harris, to compete. Schumer fought to ensure that a fully open, multi-year, multi-vendor and competitive acquisition process was instituted, so all manufacturers, including L3Harris, would have a level playing field to compete to win these contracts.  Schumer argued that the competition from a fully competitive, multi-vendor process would ensure taxpayers’ get the best-priced radios and the military gets the most technologically advanced radios throughout the life of the contracts.

Last year, L3Harris was selected by the Marine Corps to manufacture Falcon IV® Multi-Channel Hand Held (MCHH) radios under a contract worth up to $750 million. The year before, L3Harris was selected by the Army to produce more than 4,000 Leader Radios and Manpack Radios under a $345 million contract that was also part of the multi-vendor Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts Schumer announced in 2016.

In 2020, Schumer announced that L3Harris had been awarded $95 million, in addition to the $50 million he announced in 2019, to manufacture Manpack radios for the U.S. Army. In addition, Schumer in 2019 fought for major boosts in the bipartisan omnibus spending package that included $510.7 million for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to help continue building the agency’s next flagship telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), that is being constructed in part by L3Harris in Rochester, with the company building key components like the Telescope and two Aft Optics Assemblies. In November of 2018, Schumer visited Rochester to advocate for this crucial funding for the Roman Space Telescope, and one month later announced that Harris Corp., now L3Harris, had been awarded a $195.9 million contract from NASA to continue the project.

Original source can be found here.