Shelby To Gates: Tanker Needed Now
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Published: Wed, March 12, 2008 - 1:29 pm
Last Updated: Wed, March 12, 2008 - 2:19 pm
Last Updated: Wed, March 12, 2008 - 2:19 pm
“According to data and reports reviewed by The Associated Press, corporate claims of contract irregularities and improprieties are rejected more often than not by the GAO. Of the 1,327 bid protests lodged with the GAO in 2006, just 249 got as far as an official decision. And in 71 percent of those cases, the office sided with the government and denied the complaint.”
This contract will be attacked on two fronts. While Boeing’s protest delays the contract for 100 days, the congressman from Boeing (Dicks) will work to destroy the contract from his seat on the House Subcommittee on Defense.
I think this is a crying shame and there should be some mechanism in place to prevent such political wrangling after the award of a contract.
As long as the thinking in the aeronautical community was that Boeing had this contract hands down nothing was said. Now that the selection process is over all hell breaks loose on Capitol Hill.
BamaBob I think you are 100% correct—You always make great points.
Air Force procurement officials followed the letter of the law in the selection process, so Boeing is hanging its hat on the fact that the criteria were changed late in the game.
First reports said those changes greatly improved Boeing’s position and their win was a foregone conclusion. Apparently that wasn’t the case.
Jobs are a non-issue.
Security is a non-issue.
International suppliers are a non-issue.
I don’t think it’s jealousy,I think it’s money.This will hit some people in the pocket book and in a big way,we are talking about boeing investors and people on capital hill,congressmen and senators and government officials.Let’s hope most of the people see this for what it is,an attempt to intimidate those who made the decision.
So don’t get my hopes up???? Too good to be true!????
After doing much research, I’ve come to the conclusion that this has very little to do with the tanker program. While the contract sounds huge to most of us, it does not represent a significant income for either aeronautical company.
Boeing and its paid political henchmen are resisting the idea of a competitive force being developed in the southeastern corner of the nation. The advent of a true competitor in this country would begin to level the playing field and Boeing fears the potential competition!
The same group of politicians that were strongly supporting the corrupt tanker leasing scheme are the ones that are now screaming about Northrop Grumman getting this contract.
Their repetitive chant is about losing American jobs and the security of this country, both being bogus claims without merit.
If Boeing had won the contract, it would have only represented 1% of its income over a 5 year period. Boeing would have also used international suppliers to deliver the aircraft.
I really think that Boeing is JEALOUS!!!!!
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All this bickering about this contract should tell you “Americans are finding themselves more and more dependant on government spending for good paying jobs”. We need to be thankful that Alabama has a strong economic structure in place to support big business. We will have to fight for every government contract we get from this day forward, a reflection of Alabamas success in recent years. Thank God for the blessing he has poured out on Alabama.
jeff