The United States Postal Service has confirmed in a statement that it expects to award the contracts for its next generation mail trucks this summer.
A number of manufacturer teams are vying for the contracts and have already provided prototype vehicles for evaluation as part of an in-depth trial and selection process.
It is reported that the contracts could be worth as much as $6 billion (£761 million) and comprise orders for as many as 180,000 new vans.
A spokesperson for the US Postal Service told TNB, “Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs) are an important part of our continuing process to innovate and invest in our future, two core strategies for the organisation.”
Currently the USPS fleet includes around 140,000 Grumman Long Life Vehicles for its main delivery service. These were manufactured from 1987 through 1994.