A "Base Year Contract" was awarded to HK on February 9, 1999 after selection over four other competitors. Twenty pre-production shotguns were delivered in April 1999 and Technical Feasibility Testing (TFT) was conducted at Aberdeen Proving Ground during the summer of 1999. The results of this TFT led to a favorable Milestone III decision by the US Marine Corps on February 10, 2000 to exercise the first production year option for 3,977 shotguns. There are four production year options that may be exercised. The US Army, Coast Guard, and Navy are expected to procure the M1014 in the 2001? 2003 option years. First Article Testing (FAT) is scheduled to begin at Benelli Armi on July 11, 2000 and, upon acceptance by the Government, the first production lot of four hundred shotguns will be delivered beginning September 2000. Shotguns will then be delivered every thirty days in lots of five hundred