Workhorse: Pursuing postal contract could be 'prolonged process'
CINCINNATI, Ohio -
The CEO of the Cincinnati-based Workhorse Group is saying the company has hired legal and corporate advisors, but he expects the possible pursuit of the company's bid for a lucrative postal truck contract could be a prolonged process.
CEO Duane Hughes said the company met Wednesday with USPS officials after learning that competitor Oshkosh Defense had been awarded a 10-year contract to manufacture the next generation of U.S.-built postal delivery vehicles.
According to a news release from Workhorse, the company could not yet reveal details of its meeting with USPS officials to discuss bid process rules and further specifics of the selection process.
"We will continue to follow the proper due course procedures as defined by the USPS and will also look to other options available to us," said Workhorse CEO Duane Hughes." In the interim, we have retained the services of leading legal and corporate advisory firms, including Akin Gump Straus Hauer & Feld LLP and Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass LLP, to identify our options and pursue them effectively."
Representatives Tim Ryan (D-OH-13), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9), and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) are urging President Biden to halt the USPS contract until a review can be conducted on whether inappropriate political influence was involved in the decision and whether the contract award is consistent with Biden’s calls for electrification of federal vehicles.
The lawmakers note that under terms of the $6 billion contract with Oshkosh Defense, only 10% of the postal fleet would be powered by electricity.
Workhorse was offering all-electric vehicles.
Steve Burns, the former CEO of Workhorse and now the CEO of Lordstown Motors said in 2019 that if Workhorse won the postal contract, he would try to convince Workhorse to manufacture the postal vehicles in portions of the same former General Motors Assembly plant in Lordstown where LMC is planning to make the all-electric Endurance pickup trucks.
In 2019, Workhorse signed a three-year intellectual property licensing agreement with Lordstown Motors regarding the Workhorse W-15 electric pickup truck in exchange for an initial equity stake of 10% in LMC.
Workhorse stock, which was valued at more than $31 a share before the contract announcement, was less than $14 a share on Friday.
