The Katy Area Economic Development Council met Tuesday with officials from the city of Sealy to discuss ways of defending 3,000 jobs at the BAE Systems facility in Sealy.

One-thousand of the total 3,000 employees working at the tactical vehicle production plant are Katy-area residents.

The task force formed to combat the possible job loss and plant closure after learning that BAE’s contract with the U.S. army could be moving from Sealy to Oshkosh Corporation in Wisconsin.

President and CEO of the Katy Area EDC Lance LaCour said that the task force has already received the support of some Texas politicians, including U.S. Sens Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn and Gov. Rick Perry.

BAE officials, including Communications manager Davy Kong, said that BAE was outbid by Oshkosh and questioned how the company could produce the military vehicles at a lower price.

Members of the task force said they would like the U.S. Government Accountability Office to look into the matter.

“Once the GAO takes a close look at this, they will surely see the flaws in the process,” LaCour said.

John Dagget, Oshkosh director of communications, said that Oshkosh has years of experience manufacturing the military vehicles.

“We’ve been around since 1917, so we have years of experience building complex tactical wheel vehicles,” Dagget said.

Dagget also said that he could not discuss how Oshkosh could produce the tactical vehicles at a lower price.

He continued to say, however that the company’s production facility does manufacture many of the vehicle parts in-house.

The economic impact of losing the contract would mean a loss in $500 million in salaries and vendor contracts in southeast Texas, LaCour said.