Lockheed Martin is protesting the U.S. Navy decision to award a $1.16 billion contract to Northrop Grumman to design and build its new Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) unmanned aerial vehicles.

The company filed its protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) May 5. GAO has 100 days to rule on the protest.

Lockheed proposed a version of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator, which was thought to be a lower-cost proposal than Northrop’s. Northrop’s Global Hawk-based RQ-4N system, however, is expected to carry a more powerful radar system and reach the objective capabilities for range and time-on-station with fewer aircraft. A Boeing-led team also proposed a manned/unmanned Gulfstream jet for BAMS.

The sensor suite is integral to BAMS, as it will be expected to collect intelligence on ocean-going targets.

“Information provided to us during our debrief indicated that we offered a technically compliant and awardable solution at significantly lower cost, leading us to request a Government Accountability Office review,” according to a Lockheed Martin statement.

The BAMS protest adds to the list of major Pentagon acquisition programs that are contested by losing contractors – and Lockheed has found protesting Pentagon acquisition decisions to be effective. For instance, along with another losing contractor, Sikorsky, Lockheed apparently has earned another shot at the U.S. Air Force’s $15 billion Combat Search and Rescue replacement (CSAR-X) program. Boeing won the work in late 2006 but GAO referees were quickly bombarded with a string of protests. Now the Air Force expects to decide this fall whether the work will stay with Boeing or to re-award it to a new provider.

Also under protest is the Air Force’s award of a Northrop Grumman/EADS North America design for the KC-45 aerial refueling tanker. GAO is expected to rule on that matter by late June.

Navy and Northrop officials had scheduled a news briefing about BAMS for May 6 in Washington, but by midday on May 5 they said it was “postponed due to scheduling conflicts.”