Morgan Olson LLC, owned by J.B. Poindexter & Co., Inc., is one of 15 prequalified suppliers being considered by the United States Postal Service (USPS) for its Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) Acquisition Program.
The USPS anticipates making a single award in 2017 to a supplier for up to 180,000 NGDVs to replace its current fleet of mail delivery vehicles. Delivery is expected to begin no later than January 2018. With an anticipated price of $25,000 to $35,000 per vehicle, the value of the contract could potentially be in excess of $6 billion.
In 1987, Grumman Olson (now Morgan Olson) designed and developed the USPS Long Life Vehicle (LLV). The LLV earned Grumman the largest non-military vehicle contract in U.S. history. Grumman Allied, the parent company to Grumman Olson, was contracted by the USPS to produce a $1.2 billion prime order for 99,180 LLVs The final USPS order exceeded 142,000 delivery vehicles and the majority of these LLVs are still on the road delivering mail today. Morgan Olson has provided continued support to the USPS with service and parts support to keep the aging fleet on the road well past the 20 year planned life of the LLV.
The LLV combined a modified GM S-10 chassis while incorporating a special purpose all-aluminum body, and was designed to withstand extreme durability testing requirements.
Larry Palmer, Morgan Olson’s Senior Director of Strategic Accounts and formal member of the 1985 LLV development team stated, “The LLV team was a true success story including vehicle specifications developed by the USPS, rapid purpose built vehicle development, intense testing and finally the manufacturing and deployment of over 142,000 vehicles nationwide. It’s not surprising the USPS is modeling the NGDV program very similar to the LLV model.”
Palmer continued, “Purpose built, all-aluminum 20 year life vehicles is Morgan Olson’s expertise. I’m actually more excited with this new USPS opportunity because of our state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, which are best-in-class. I believe Morgan Olson is prepared and properly positioned to provide the USPS with another 20-plus-year delivery solution vehicle that will again exceed the USPS expectations.”