According to general information on the LLV:

The Grumman Long Life Vehicles (LLV) is the most common vehicle used by letter carriers for curbside and residential delivery of mail, replacing the previous standard letter-carrier vehicle, the Jeep DJ-5. The body and final assembly is by Grumman, and the chassis is made by General Motors. The LLV was produced by Grumman Olson from 1987 to 1994. It has an aluminum body mounted on a General Motors modified 5-10 chassis. The original S-10 frame is now obsolete and is actively being replaced with an AM General frame coupled into the overall S-10 chassis. The USPS purchased over 100,000 of these vehicles, of which the last was purchased in 1994. The original design lifespan of the Grumman LLV was 24 years, but in 2009 this was extended to thirty years. Approximately 142,000 LLVs are in the USPS delivery fleet.

Because the United States Postal Service owns over 100,000 Grumman LLVs, of which the oldest are reaching the end of their lifespan, the USPS has been looking into replacing or retrofitting the LLVs. The USPS has spent $ millions to repair its fleet of Grumman LLVs, and estimated that it would cost $billions to replace the entire fleet. In some areas LLVs have been replaced with minivans.

USPS is seeking to keep the body and replace the chassis (internal framework) of the LLV. In a notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website:

LONG LIFE VEHICLE (LLV) ROLLING CHASSIS
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

The Postal Service does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Request for Information (RFI or to pay for the information solicited. The RFI is issued for the purpose stated in Section 2.0, Objectives.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) would like to retain the best qualities of the current right hand drive long Life Vehicle (LLV) without having to redevelop what has been proven to work. The objective is to provide a new rolling chassis that will seamlessly mate with the existing body while capturing advances in vehicle technologies that have been developed in the last 20 years maintaining the existing vehicle payload requirement. The current body of the LLV is to be retained as it contains optimal delivery features such as the roll up rear door, sliding side doors and correct ride height for curbside deliveries.

The USPS desires to reduce the LLV existing chassis shortcomings such as the low miles per gallon, poor resistance to corrosion in multiple components and outdated engine diagnostics. The current chassis encompasses old, inefficient technologies and high maintenance items the USPS would like eliminated.

There is a multitude of routes, primarity rural, where the LLV volumetric and payload capacity is more than adequate. The Postal Service has identified up to 40,000 routes where the LL V is still the ideally sized delivery vehicle. This vehicle will operate in tandem with the next generation delivery vehicle as the two primary light delivery vehicles in the postal fleet for the foreseeable future. The rolling chassis solution will need to have a 20 year+ life.

2.0 Objectives
The purpose of this RFI is to identify:
1. Industry suppliers’ interest in manufacturing a rolling chassis for the Long Life Vehicle (LLV).
2. Detailed and technical description of the components and the production of the assembled chassis.
3. Estimated cost and schedule to deliver 2 prototypes.
4. Estimated cost and schedule to complete FMVSS qualification testing including vehicle crash worthiness.
5. Production timeline and Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) production cost for tiered pricing @10,000/20,000/30,000/40,000 quantity vehicles.
6. Company’s past history and any accomplishments similar in scope to this endeavor.
7. Production facility location and capabilities.

3.0 Requirements
The following requirements must be considered when responding to this RFI:
1. The primary requirement is that the rolling chassis being supplied shall mate directly to the existing LLV body

2.  Updated:The rolling chassis may utilize the existing AM General replacement frame currently being used as a frame only replacement.

3.The integrated rolling chassis and body shall meet the current year FMVSS standards; the integrated
rolling chassis and body will be classified as a new vehicle, the old VIN on the body will be retired; the supplier must consult with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to determine if the supplier’s proposed design can retain the current VIN or if a new VIN needs to be issued. The integrated rolling chassis and body shall meet the current year FMVSS standards; the integrated rolling chassis and body will be classified as a new vehicle, the old VIN on the body will be retired.

4. The rolling chassis shall not contain any remanufactured items including the engine, transmission, starters, alternators, etc.

5. The rolling chassis shall utilize a drivetrain that has better fuel economy than the current LLV when used in a postal type drive-cycle. The current LLV has a reported EPA fuel mileage of 18.5MPG; in reality it is 9 mpg based on the USPS adapted curbside drive cycle for curbside delivery. [EPA method of determining miles per gallon shall be used, USPS to supply the Curbside drive cycle to determine actual MPG based on curbside delivery].

6. The rolling chassis shall incorporate a fuel injected internal combustion engine.

7. The rolling chassis shall have a similar ground clearance and as good or better turning radius when compared to the existing LLV.

8. The rolling chassis drivability shall be the same or better than the existing LLV vehicle.

9. The rolling chassis shall be designed in such a manner that makes it easy for USPS automotive technicians to install the body onto the rolling chassis in house at the USPS Vehicle Maintenance Facilities with no special tools/training required. The existing LLV body shall be able to be installed on the provided rolling chassis.

10. There shall be detailed installation instructions provided to complete the installation of the current LL V body on the new rolling chassis.

11 . There shall be a fully detailed service manual provided in electronic format for the rolling chassis vehicle.

12. All new parts for the rolling chassis shall be sourced and available to be placed into the USPS supply chain for 20 years.

13. The rolling chassis shall be warrantied in a similar fashion to a brand new vehicle; the existing body will not be included in this warranty.

14.The rolling chassis shall incorporate a vehicle back up warning system with a backup camera and monitor. The camera and camera wiring harness will likely be mounted onto the LLV body.

4.0 Desirable Requirements
1. Incorporation of CAN bus technology that can communicate with blu-tooth enabled OBDII devices.
2. If an internal combustion engine is selected incorporation of engine idle stop start technology suited to the postal curb side delivery route.
3. The rear and the front tires are in line with one another for better traction in slippery conditions.

Federal Business Opportunities