By Emelie Rutherford
The Air Force filed a motion with the Government Accountability Office Wednesday seeking to dismiss parts of Boeing‘s [BA] protest of service’s tanker contract award to a Northrop Grumman [NOC] team.
A service spokeswoman announced the motion’s filing late Wednesday. Northrop Grumman also filed a motion Wednesday asking the GAO to dismiss significant portions of Boeing’s protest.
“The Air Force filed a motion with the GAO for partial summary dismissal of the Boeing protest,” spokeswoman Lt. Col. Jennifer Cassidy said. “In order to protect proprietary information and respect the GAO protective order, we cannot provide further details.”
The Air Force’s motion for partial-summary dismissal is distinct from the service’s forthcoming official response in the dispute, Cassidy said.
That response will be delivered to the GAO before it renders a decision. The oversight office has 100 days from March 11–the day Boeing filed the contract award protest–to issue its decision, making the end of the day on June 19 the GAO’s deadline.
The Air Force initially had an April 10 due date for submitting its official response, but GAO spokesmen said their office may extend that deadline for the service, because Boeing has filed supplemental protests.
The Air Force awarded the contract for the KC-45A aerial-refueling tanker, a pact estimated to ultimately be worth more than $35 billion, on Feb. 29 to Northrop Grumman and a team including European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS).
Boeing said it protested the award because it learned the competition was close and that it believes the Air Force used a flawed process in evaluating the proposals.
The Air Force maintains Northrop Grumman provided the best value when weighing deciding factors–mission capability, proposal risk, past performance, cost/price and performance in a simulated war scenario–and that it followed a transparent and fair process.
The motion Northrop Grumman filed with the GAO Wednesday argues many of the claims in Boeing’s protest are being made too late, and should have been raised before Boeing submitted its final bid.