Oura continues to catch the ire of wearable tech rival Whoop, with the latter revealed to have filed a second protest of the smart ring giant’s $96m Pentagon contract in January.
The spat began in October after it was announced that Oura had been awarded the contract to supply the Defense Health Agency (DHA) department with its smart rings and platform.
As Breaking Defense reports, however, Whoop continues to be unhappy with the process. The DHA later canceled the proposal after the brand contacted the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to protest the initial award.
However, the DHA posted subsequent requests for proposals in November and December, specifying that the wearable must be a ring. As detailed in documents seen by the outlet, the DHA also acknowledged to lawmakers that Oura is the only smart ring maker cleared by the DoD for use in secure facilities.
Whoop has since alleged that the brief was designed to hand the award over to Oura by default, with a second protest now revealed to have been lodged in January.
In a statement to the outlet, the company argues that DHA’s insistence on a ring format is an arbitrary restriction that shuts out competitors like itself, despite the broader wearable market being dominated by wrist-based devices. Oura and the DHA have yet to return comments about the protest from Whoop.
A response from the DHA is due by mid-April, so we’ll continue to watch this one with intrigue.
