Cincinnati-based Workhorse Group, which makes last-mile electric delivery vehicles, claims in a lawsuit the U.S. Postal Service acted “without rational basis” when it awarded a $6 billion manufacturing contract to a competitor for the mail carrier’s next-gen delivery truck.

The company states the postal service had no intention of fairly considering Workhorse for the award that was given to Oshkosh Defense, a division of Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Corp., yet allowed and even encouraged Workhorse to continue to pursue the contract.

“In the meantime, the USPS put its thumb on the scale against Workhorse,” the complaint states.

Filed under seal June 16 with the U.S. Federal Court of Claims, it wasn’t until Monday that a redacted version of the complaint was made public.

It states Workhorse and a former partner spent six years and more than $6 million to design, prototype and refine a proposed vehicle to meet the needs of the postal service.

The court papers also claim the postal service falsely blamed Workhorse’s prototype vehicle for a safety incident that injured a driver; did not tell the company of perceived deficiencies in its proposal; and unfairly evaluated its proposal by holding Workhorse to higher, more strict standards than other companies in the running for the contract.

“As was the USPS’s design all along, these improper actions left Workhorse with a technical score that ensured it had no fair chance of a contract award,” the complaint states.

The postal service did not comment on the lawsuit, but released it “is looking forward to the start of vehicle production for our Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV).”

“Preproduction design, tooling, and facility preparation activities are proceeding on schedule with the first NGDVs estimated to appear on carrier routes in 2023,” said postal service spokeswoman Kim Frum in an email.

U.S. Postmaster Louis DeJoy in February announced that Oshkosh Defense won the lucrative 10-year contract to make up to 165,000 new delivery trucks for the postal service. Ten percent of the vehicles would be battery-powered; the rest would be equipped with fuel-efficient internal combustion engines, according to DeJoy.

DeJoy in March stated in a letter to lawmakers that with the government’s help, the postal service could commit to making most of the fleet electric within a decade. DeJoy added the postal service needs about $8 billion to electrify the new fleet to the “maximum extent” feasible.

Last month, the U.S. House oversight and reform committee voted to authorize $8 billion for the postal service.

In the wake of the announcement, a group of U.S. lawmakers from Ohio, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, urged President Joe Biden to halt the contract award until it could be reviewed.

Ryan also co-sponsored a resolution in the House asking the same. He also called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate a large purchase of Oshkosh stock less than one day before DeJoy’s announcement.

Workhorse holds a 10 percent stake in Lordstown Motors.

rselak@tribtoday.com