By
U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks
.
Published: Tue, March 11, 2008 - 12:13 pm
WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar. 10 -- Following the announcement today by The Boeing Company that it intends to protest the award of a $40 billion air refueling tanker contract to the European-U.S. partnership EADS/Northrop Grumman, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said the company’s action was “an appropriate response to the Air Force’s flawed and unsupportable decision.”“The Boeing KC-767 met and exceeded all of the ‘key performance parameters’ for the medium sized tanker that the Air Force stated in its Request for Proposals, and then it ultimately selected a much larger tanker based on exceedingly bad analysis of each company’s capabilities,” said Rep. Dicks, who serves as the Vice-Chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
“If the Air Force wanted a larger tanker, Congress was seriously misled because throughout the proposal and source selection process we were continually assured that the competition was for the procurement of medium-sized tankers to replace the existing KC-135 tanker aircraft,” he said.
“It also strains credibility to contend that the life-cycle cost of acquiring, fueling and maintaining a force of KC-30 tankers that are 53 percent larger and much less efficient would be the same as the buying KC-767 tankers. And it is impossible to accept the analysis that concluded there is a lower risk in the proposal to produce KC-30 aircraft at a facility that has yet to be built with a workforce that is yet to be hired,” the congressman continued.
“This was a seriously flawed decision and I believe it is entirely appropriate for GAO and Congress to make a final determination regarding the best option for replacing the critical capability that aerial refueling tankers provide for the Air Force,” he said.
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Does anyone else find it strange that members of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and other related Defense committees are all Members of Congress where there are Boeing Locations .......How can these people be truly objective about this decision.