SureFire

Posts Tagged ‘Leupold & Stevens’

Leupold & Stevens Submits GAO Protest On USSOCOM’s S-VPS Program

Thursday, August 1st, 2019

Earlier this week, optics manufacturer Leupold & Stevens submitted a GAO protest of the U.S. Department of the Navy Surface Warfare Center Crane Division’s recent contract modification published on 18 July 2019, to the internal reticle under Solicitation No. N00164-18-R-JQ30 (“the Solicitation”) and Contract No. N00164-18-D-JQ30 (“the Contract”) for Miniature Aiming Systems-Day Squad-Variable Power Scopes (Second Focal Plane) to Sig Sauer, Inc. For this solicitation, Crane is working on behalf of United States Special Operations Command as their office of primary responsibility for lethality. SOF weapons and accessories as well as Visual Augmentation Systems are procured by Crane.

Leupold asserts that Crane improperly modified its contract with Sig Sauer and that the changes made to the contract were so substantial that the contract should be terminated and a new competition conducted for the modified requirements. The additional funding of the contract modification is so much when added to SIG’s winning bid that Leupold feels someone else would have been awarded the contract instead of SIG.

While the SIG Optics TANGO6T is at the heart of this action, it’s important to point out that the protest has nothing to do with performance. That hasn’t even been actually assessed yet as neither SIG nor Nightforce have delivered any production samples to the government. This is because USSOCOM decided to integrate a new reticle into S-VPS, the Tremor8.

When the program was created, a different reticle had initially been considered, but due to the adoption of 6.5 Creedmoor, SOCOM decided they wanted a bullet drop compensator reticle. Todd Hodnett had envisioned a new Tremor reticle and this was adopted, but in concept only. The reticle was sketched out on a napkin and included settings for 5.56 M855A1 as well as the new 6.5 CM round. Even when the optics had been selected and contracts awarded, the Tremor8 still did not exist. Just recently, months later, the reticle has finally been certified. Now that it has been certified, Nightforce and SIG can integrate the reticle into their scopes and deliver samples to the government for acceptance testing.

Both Nightforce and SIG will have to pay a license fee to include that reticle in the scopes the government will purchase, even though Nightforce shares an owner with Tremor8 creator Horus.

SIG’s winning submission to S-VPS (SFP) incorporated a proprietary wire reticle. While this was selected, SOCOM later decided they wanted an etched, illuminated Tremor8 reticle.

The additional cost of the integration of the Tremor8 into the SIG TANGO6T is what Leupold is protesting. Did the government violate its own requirement when it selected the SIG optic as submitted, or did the government select a product based on its own requirement and then direct the vendor to make changes which were costly? That is the heart of the question at hand. GAO will investigate the matter and make a determination. Possible outcomes are the status quo, a new solicitation, no procurement at all, or SIG being paid for at least a portion of the contract and a new solicitation being issued.

Read the redacted protest letter
here.

Leupold & Stevens, Inc., Announces Marketing Department Promotions

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014

Consumer Product Services Team also Created to Serve Existing and Future Customers

BEAVERTON, Ore. — Leupold & Stevens, Inc. is pleased to announce several staff promotions within their Global Marketing department.

“These changes acknowledge the significant accomplishments of some key individuals on our marketing team. We are incredibly fortunate to have so many world-class marketing and brand experts in-house at Leupold & Stevens” said Rob Morrison, Vice President of Global Marketing.

Mike

Mike Slack has been promoted to the position of Brand Creative Director. Slack has played key roles in the leadership of marketing, communications and advertising throughout his 33 years of service at Leupold & Stevens. In his new role, he will be focused on leading all creative development, fostering key strategic industry partnerships and management of the overall brand experience at our US manufacturing facility in Beaverton, Oregon.

Pat

Pat Mundy has been promoted to the position of Director of Brand Communications. Mundy has been with Leupold & Stevens more than 10 years and has played a key leadership role in brand management, merchandising, marketing, communications and public relations. His new role will be focused on providing leadership in the areas of advertising, digital/web communications, show sponsorships, celebrity endorsements, media and industry relations, merchandising and marketing services.

Shane Meisel and Steve Krajczynski have been named Managers within the Marketing department with Meisel leading Trade Marketing programs and Krajczynski leading Consumer Marketing programs. Both were previously in Brand Management roles at the company and will report to Pat Mundy as part of the Brand Communications team. Prior to joining Leupold & Stevens in 2011, Meisel worked in various product and brand management positions at JELD-WEN Windows and Doors and The Stanley Works. Krajczynski joined the company in 2014 after spending nine years working for the Craft Brew Alliance marketing leading beer brands including Widmer Brothers and Kona Brewing.

Tim

Finally, a new team, Consumer Product Services, is being added to the Marketing department and will focus on the consumer-facing aspects of the business. The areas that will be consolidated within the new Consumer Product Services team are Technical Services, Product Services, the Leupold Custom Shop and Product Training. The Consumer Services group will be led by Tim O’Connor as Manager of Consumer Services. O’Connor has worked at Leupold & Stevens for almost 15 years and is considered an expert in optical products and solutions.

Slack, Mundy and O’Connor will all report to Morrison and make up the Global Marketing Leadership Team.

“Under Rob’s leadership, with support from Mike, Pat, Tim and their teams, we are positioning ourselves for aggressive future growth” said Bruce Pettet, President and CEO of Leupold & Stevens. “Their unique talents will allow us to build on our already strong bonds with consumers and craft programs that will drive our brand for years to come.”

www.leupold.com

TacJobs – Leupold & Stevens, Inc. Seeks Vice President Of Global Sales

Wednesday, June 18th, 2014

Leupold & Stevens, the parent company of Leupold and Redfield brands, is currently seeking a Vice President of Global Sales.

The Vice President of Global Sales will be responsible for defining and executing Leupold and Stevens’ global sales strategy and business plan. They will lead the development of business relationships, identify sales opportunities and manage customer relationships in all global markets for Leupold & Stevens, Inc.

The position requires:

– A four-year degree in sales, marketing, business administration, or a related field.
– 10 years experience in progressively more responsible leadership roles within sales.
– The successful candidate must be an optics user.
– Preferably will have shooting/hunting industry experience.

The position will be based at Leupold & Stevens’ manufacturing campus just outside of Beaverton, Oregon, USA.

For more information, visit www.leupold.com and click on the careers button at the bottom of the home page.