IronPlanet announced that it was awarded the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) contract to manage and sell rolling stock surplus assets of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) (Surplus Contract).   The DLA issued the final contract award to IronPlanet on July 25, 2014 pursuant to a competitive bid process that was held on April 1, 2014.
 
Bids for the Surplus Contract were based on a percentage of the sales price of the items that bidders will share with the DLA. IronPlanet estimates $50-70 million of rolling stock annually, and its bid was equal to 75.29 percent revenue share to the DLA. The Surplus Contract has a base term of two years with four one-year renewal options.  Following the bid process, Liquidity Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:LQDT) filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO).  This protest and supplemental protests filed were denied by the GAO on July 23, 2014.
 
“We are very pleased and excited to be officially awarded this contract, and to partner with the Defense Logistics Agency.  We have already begun moving forward leveraging our existing infrastructure and resources to build the dedicated capabilities necessary to maximize the returns for the U.S. Department of Defense, and ultimately the U.S. taxpayer, in selling their surplus rolling stock assets,” said Greg Owens, CEO, IronPlanet.  “IronPlanet’s nearly 15 years of experience in selling equipment positions us well to meet our objectives in driving value for the DLA and the U.S. Department of Defense as well as building out additional inventory management capabilities for others across the public sector.”
 
Rolling stock includes surplus trucks, trailers, generators, wheel loaders, cranes, crawler tractors, and other equipment.  While Surplus Contract volume will begin to flow to IronPlanet in the third quarter of 2014, the contract is scheduled to fully commence late 2014 into 2015.