Boeing, Northrop/EADS View Pentagon's Wish List For New
Tanker
Confirming earlier reports, on Wednesday the
Defense Department issued a draft request for proposals to the
competitors in the Air Force's $35 billion program to acquire new
aerial refueling tanker aircraft.
The request went to Northrop-Grumman and Boeing, and addresses
concerns the Government Accountability Office raised about the
original award of the contract in February, said Shay Assad, the
Defense Department's director of procurement and acquisitions
policy.
The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, recommended that the
Air Force re-bid the contract -- originally won by a
Northrop-Grumman/EADS/Airbus consortium in February. Boeing
protested the decision, and in June the GAO agreed that there were
irregularities in the contracting process. Defense Secretary Robert
M. Gates said DoD would address each of the GAO's findings.
"We are doing that, and we are addressing them in a very
measured and serious way to ensure that we, in fact, can execute
this procurement in a manner that's fair to both parties and is in
the best interests of the warfighters and the taxpayers," Assad
said.
DoD officials will take a week to discuss elements of the draft
with Northrop-Grumman and Boeing. "Each offeror will be provided an
equal amount of time to sit down and discuss face-to-face what
their views are of the draft RFP," Assad said.
By the middle of August, Assad said, he expects DoD will issue
the final request for proposals amendment. Both companies will have
45 days to submit their revisions to their proposals.
This takes the process out to October 1, Assad said. Through
late November, DoD officials will have discussions -- both oral and
written -- with the companies about their proposals.
"We would then hope to close discussions around the end of
November [or] early December, request a best and final offer -- or
what we now term final proposal revisions -- in the first week in
December, and complete our evaluations and award right around New
Year's Eve," Assad said.
Assad said the process is on track now and the department needs
to finish this contract so warfighters can get "what they need at a
price that the taxpayers can be pleased with."
The Northrop-Grumman contract awarded in February is under a
stop-work order. If the department chooses Boeing as part of this
process, then DoD will cancel the contract with Northrop-Grumman.
If the new process still chooses Northrop-Grumman, then the
stop-work order can be lifted and work can proceed, officials
said.
(Aero-News thanks Jim Garamone, American Forces Press
Service)
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