Tanker Re-Bid Could Last More Than 6 Months

Alabama Mobile The Pentagon says there's no guarantee it can select a new winner by the end of the year. Chief Weapons buyer John Young also acknowledged that another protest was possible because "it's hard to see a situation" where the companies involved would accept losing.

by Reuters

Published: Fri, July 11, 2008 - 7:13 am CST Last Updated: Thu, July 31, 2008 - 12:59 am CST

WASHINGTON, July 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. military will try but it will not guarantee it can select a winner in the new $40 billion Air Force aerial tanker contest by the end of the year, the Pentagon's chief weapons buyer said on Thursday.

John Young told a House of Representatives Armed Services Committee subcommittee hearing the "air is charged" around the revitalized competition, and suggested that a number of scenarios must fall into place seamlessly to avert the possibility of another disputed selection.

"If we limit the change and industry is cooperative and Congress allows us the opportunity to proceed, we may be able to do it in six months," Young said.

But Young stressed that he could not guarantee a time frame, and acknowledged that another protest of the award was possible because "it's hard to see a situation" where the companies involved would accept losing.

Young was before Congress as the latest senior military official -- in a seven-year saga -- to oversee selection of a company to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of KC-135 refueling tankers.

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates reopened the bidding after Boeing Co successfully protested the Air Force decision in February to award the deal to a team led by Northrop Grumman Corp. Northrop's partner is EADS, the parent of Boeing's chief commercial aircraft rival, Europe's Airbus.

Auditors at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the appeal and found in June the Air Force made several errors in evaluating the bids. Young said his team would offer an amended proposal.

A handful of lawmakers from states allied with Boeing or Northrop tried to pin down Young on the new proposal. Some believe changes in aircraft size or life cycle could sway the decision in one direction or the other.

But Young would not yield on possible changes. He said the overarching specifications of the tanker would remain the same and the military would treat each bidder equally

He said the Pentagon would abide by the GAO recommendations and do a better job this time of spelling out to Boeing and Northrop what criteria is most important. He said the companies have wide latitude to make major changes on their own and still fall within the requirements.

Committee members met with Young behind closed doors after the hearing.

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carl Says:

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 5:16 am

Yea, That really caught my eye and left me wondering why are we going through this again. Boeing swings a lot of weight in the states and a lot of other countries and they give away a lot of military classified information to these other countries by outsourceing to them. I didn’t realize Boeing is the seller of the minute man missle until the other day. That would just be Ducky, to fire our missles if need be and China and Russia knows what part to disable and how to.

BamaBob Says:

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 4:58 am

I like this quote.
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“We didn’t see an iota of evidence that there was intentional wrongdoing, no evidence of bias, no evidence of criminality,” said Daniel I. Gordon, the deputy general counsel for the GAO during the hearing.
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The Air Force took two years to pick the aircraft they wanted and it is all now on the line due to procedural BS generated by Boeing. Kind of a sad situation when the whole process can be jeopardized by a few special interests.

carl Says:

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 4:53 am

Pretty interresting site BamaBob. I had to print some of it out to save to compare against the airbus.

BamaBob Says:

Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 4:26 am

What is the latest on this situation? Not much new in this story other than the date, but here it is.
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http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123107462

rosepetal Says:

Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 12:19 pm

when i read some of the what the last inspector wrote, it gave me a pretty good idea of how boeing works. this man has really been thru a lot.
if he had been a whistle blower against the whitehouse, the media would have been all over it.
i have a question who supplies the tankers used in california to put out wild fires. are they private firms? i know fuel trucks can only carry fuel. i also found this website, its really cool. but you can compare boeing crashes to airbus crashes, sadly boeing plane crashes out number air bus. http://www.aviationexplorer.com/

carl Says:

Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 10:56 am

Just another ploy to delay things until Boeing can get more of their paid flunkies into place and into the fray! They were caught off guard on the original competition and thought it would be a slam dunk for them with their paid flunkies watching the cash box in Washington. Now they’re stalling for time to get more of their hired help in Washington on board to help guard their piggy bank, which just happens to be the tax payers money. As I said before I think we’re about to see how really good or how really bad our representation is in Washington and either way remember them come election time.

BamaBob Says:

Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 6:14 am

Yeah, it is one of them thar conspiracies!

The guy speaking for the GAO at that House hearing gave me bad vibes.

rosepetal Says:

Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 10:40 pm

the real facts about boeing by a xboeing inspector.

http://www.thelastinspector.com/39701.html

rosepetal Says:

Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 9:36 pm

MeAmerican , where you been?