Army Procurement of Beretta's 9mm Semiautomatic Pistol as the Standard Military Sidearm

GAO discussed the Army's procurement of a standard 9-mm handgun. GAO attributed the Army's problems in selecting a 9-mm handgun to: (1) conflicting Air Force and Army goals and contradictory congressional guidance; and (2) overly restrictive product specifications. GAO also noted that: (1) while the Army did not display bias toward the eventual awardee, it did unfairly eliminate one firm from competition; (2) the Army conducted flawed tests of the eliminated firm's product by overstating the specification for required trigger pressure and by applying a minimum-service-life standard rather than an average-service-life standard; and (3) the Army clearly should have included the competitor in its competitive range for the procurement. In addition, GAO noted that the Army should carefully study its available options before deciding whether to terminate its present 9-mm handgun contract and resolicit from those offerers whose products it found to be acceptable.