Next The Generation Delivery Vehicle Congressional reps want investigation n late February, the Postal Service President Biden described in January startup that specializes in electric awarded the contract for the Next his administration’s plan for purchas- vehicles, announced that it would chal- IGeneration Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) ing federal vehicles, as follows: “The lenge the award, and three members of to Oshkosh Defense of Wisconsin. The federal government also owns an Congress called for a freeze on the con- winning design provides the Postal enormous fleet of vehicles, which we’re tract. Ohio Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Tim Service with the option of ordering going to replace with clean electric Ryan, along with Rep. Jared Huffman of either electric or fossil fuel engines. vehicles….” California, put forward a resolution that USPS says that at least 10 percent of When the USPS contract was calls for Congress to investigate how the new vehicles will come with electric awarded, one of the losing vendors, the Oshkosh contract was awarded. It motors. Workhorse Group Inc., an Ohio-based calls for the award to be in line with the 22 The Postal Record May 2021 May 2021 fter five years of proto- the 34 companies that responded to types and testing, on Feb. the RFI, USPS narrowed the field to a 23, the Postal Service an- 15 prospective vendors. After meeting nounced that it had awarded a contract with these vendors, the Postal Service to build the Next Generation Delivery issued a request for proposal (RFP), Vehicle (NGDV) to Oshkosh Defense. inviting each company to submit Under the terms of the contract, Osh- ideas for building a prototype vehicle kosh Defense will finalize the produc- for testing. After reviewing the pro- tion design of the NGDV and build up to posals, USPS awarded the contract to 165,000 vehicles over the next 10 years. build prototype vehicles to five manu- Throughout this process, NALC and facturers in September 2016. One of USPS have held numerous meetings the vendors awarded the contract regarding the design, production was Oshkosh, which partnered with and testing of the prototype vehicles. another manufacturer during the Drawing on their own experience as prototype phase of the process. letter carriers, as well as input from Testing of the prototype vehicles letter carriers across the country, began in September 2017 and was NALC national officers and staff have initially scheduled to last through worked with representatives from the November 2018. USPS tested the dura- Postal Service to finalize the required bility, fuel economy and emissions of features of the NGDV. each prototype at the Transportation The road from identifying the need Research Center in East Liberty, OH, to replace the current USPS vehicle while testing of the components of the fleet to awarding a contract started vehicles took place at the Dayton T. in 2014, when the Postal Service Brown facility in Bohemia, NY. Field initiated the process for developing a testing of the vehicles began in Octo- vehicle that would replace the Long ber 2017 in several locations around Life Vehicle (LLV). The journey began the country with varying climates to with USPS soliciting input from city ensure that each vehicle could per- letter carriers regarding the features form in the weather conditions letter they would like to see in a right-hand carriers face throughout the year. Test drive delivery vehicle. sites were Flint and Utica in Michigan; In 2015, USPS issued a request for Alexandria and Manassas in Virginia; information (RFI) to solicit informa- and Tempe, Tucson and Apache Junc- tion from manufacturers interested in tion in Arizona. building a prototype vehicle for test- In November 2017, the Postal ing. After reviewing submissions from Service halted field testing and the into USPS’ NGDV contract award Paris climate accord and with Biden’s that the contract had been awarded “in With congressional support, DeJoy electric vehicle policy. It also urges the accordance with Postal Service procure- wrote, USPS “can commit to a majority Postal Service “to freeze the recently ment procedures” after an “extensive” of the Postal Service’s delivery fleet awarded contract to purchase 165,000 process. being electric within ten years…We new vehicles until an expedited review He added that the 10 percent in welcome support from Congress that is conducted to determine there was no electric vehicles is a “floor” and not a inappropriate political influence.” “ceiling.” USPS would like to procure advances the goal of a Postal Service In a March letter to leaders of more electric vehicles, DeJoy said, but vehicle fleet with zero emissions and congressional postal committees, it needs funding from Congress to do the necessary infrastructure that will Postmaster General Louis DeJoy wrote so, in the amount of $8 billion. be required to support it.” PR May 2021 May 2021 The Postal Record 23 Next The Generation Delivery Vehicle prototypes were returned to the Trans- Once all of the bids were received, portation Research Center. This was USPS reviewed them based on the done so that the manufacturers could technical specifications in each address mechanical issues that arose submission to ensure that they met during the course of testing. Once the guidelines in the SOW. USPS also the repairs were made, field testing reviewed the total cost associated resumed in April 2018 and continued with the NGDV, including the initial until the end of March 2019. cost to purchase the vehicles; the Once testing was complete, the cost to fuel and maintain them for Postal Service issued an initial the next 20 years; and any costs re- statement of work (SOW), which was lated to purchasing electric vehicles. provided to the manufacturers and The additional costs for electric NALC at the national level. In March vehicles include the installation of 2019, Director of City Delivery Chris charging stations at each facility Jackson and Director of Safety and as well as upgrading the electrical Health Manuel L. Peralta Jr., along service to handle the increased usage with NALC staff members, met with of electricity. The final technical and representatives of the Postal Service financial reviews were completed in regarding the SOW to ask questions, January 2021, which led to the an- give feedback and offer suggestions nouncement of the contract on Feb. for the production model of the 23. Based on projections made by NGDV. Between May and June 2019, the Postal Service, the first vehicles the Postal Service met with the pro- should be ready for deployment in spective manufacturers to finalize the 2023. specifications based on the supplier’s From the beginning, NALC’s goal input. has been to ensure that the new At the conclusion of these meet- delivery vehicle provides a safe work- ings, the Postal Service issued the ing environment by incorporating final SOW based on the input from the advances in automotive safety NALC and the prototype manufac- technology developed over the past turer. The SOW was submitted to the 30 years. Also, the NGDV had to inte- five manufacturers, and they were grate features focused on the comfort invited to submit their bids to design of letter carriers while operating the and build the final production model vehicle. of the NGDV. At the time, the Postal In addition to explaining how we Service anticipated the first pro- reached this point, this article will duction models being available for discuss some of the new features that deployment in 2021. Unfortunately, will be included in the final produc- the timeline for awarding the con- tion model of the NGDV based on the tract and manufacturing the NGDV final SOW described earlier. Once was delayed due to the COVID-19 Oshkosh finalizes the production pandemic. The final bids from the model, there may be modifications vendors were delivered to the Postal made to the function of these features Service in July 2020. based on the design. 24 The Postal Record May 2021 May 2021 One feature almost every carrier is even when the driver’s-side window A look at some of concerned about is the climate inside is open. Second, the heater must be the features in the the vehicle and the ability to main- able to heat the driver’s footwell to at new vehicle tain a comfortable temperature based least 65 degrees within 60 minutes of on the driver’s preferences. What is starting the vehicle when the outside too hot or too cold to one person may temperature is -20 degrees. A third be comfortable to someone else, and feature addressed the climate in the the LLV does not adequately allow cargo area. The NGDV will include an the driver to regulate the temperature active ventilation system, which must inside the vehicle. provide sufficient airflow so that the To address these concerns, the cargo area is within 10 degrees of the NGDV will be equipped with modern outside temperature. climate controls that will help allevi- Another area of great concern to let- ate those concerns. The NGDV will ter carriers is the safety of the vehicle. be equipped with air conditioning in Due to the standards at the time the the cab area, which must be able to LLV was built, the current fleet lacks cool the driver to 85 degrees when the the safety features most people take outside temperature is 120 degrees, for granted in their personal vehicle. May 2021 May 2021 The Postal Record 25 Next The Generation Delivery Vehicle The NGDV will include several fea- ers to enter the cargo area from the tures that will make the vehicle safer curb side. This door will be located to operate. adjacent to the driver’s-side door Over the past several years, letter and will be equipped with electronic carriers have been involved in horrific locks.