By Emelie Rutherford
Alabama lawmakers backing the Northrop Grumman [NOC]-European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. bid to build new Air Force tankers ramped up their criticism yesterday of the Pentagon’s latest industry solicitation, charging it favors rival Boeing [BA] and should be rewritten.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), a defense appropriator who is up for reelection next year, told reporters the tanker draft request for proposals (RFP) issued last month “is already tilted by the Pentagon toward Boeing,” does not represent “a level playing field,” and is “a sham.” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a defense authorizer, said the “integrity of the Department of Defense and the entire procurement system is at stake.”
Shelby, Sessions, and most of Alabama’s congressmen told reporters at a Capitol press conference they want the Pentagon to rewrite the draft document before the final RFP is issued.
Boeing supporters on Capitol Hill from states including Washington, meanwhile, repeated arguments that the pending tanker competition is tilted in Northrop Grumman-EADS’ favor for reasons including European government support the team received.
The back-and-forth rhetoric between the two tanker rivals and politicians who support them, because of jobs that would be spurred in their districts if their favored company wins the tanker competition, is expected to only intensify. Northrop Grumman, for example, plans to brief reporters on the tanker competition today at the National Press Club.
The Alabama delegation alleged the draft tanker solicitation document: doesn’t spell out the “best value” competition they said they expected; would inappropriately result in a “shootout” where the lowest-priced bidder wins; and describes aircraft that are not as advanced as they should be and are akin to the current Eisenhower-era tankers.
The Northrop Grumman-EADS supporters charged the Pentagon changed the tanker solicitation too much since the last competition for the aircraft. Northrop Grumman-EADS won that tanker contract in February 2008 before the Pentagon canceled it following Boeing’s successful protest to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The Alabama politicians said they all believe the new draft RFP would essentially create a competition won by the lowest bidder, instead of the company with the tanker representing the so-called “best value,” an assessment based not only on price.
“That is apparently where we’re heading, a solely price(-based) shootout,” Sessions said. “And, there are so many other variables at play that need to be considered, I think were considered, in the last bid process that resulted in the Northrop Grumman tanker being selected.”
Though Northrop Grumman-EADS’ proposal was cheaper in last year’s contest, Alabama lawmakers worry Boeing could propose a lower cost now. Because of the GAO protest, Boeing has seen Northrop Grumman-EADS’ pricing data.
The Pentagon in a statement yesterday reiterated its stance that “this is not a rerun of the prior (tanker) process or the prior RFP.”
“When the GAO found flaws in the previous process, it overturned the award,” the statement says. “With this new draft RFP, we are very cognizant of the criticisms made and are taking very strong steps to try and correct those criticisms. We are being very explicit about the criteria that we’re going to use, explicit about the scoring system and explicit about the decision tree that will be used to make this selection.”
The Alabama lawmakers, when asked what they want changed in the draft RFP, said they are not happy the document, according to them, would place the same emphasis on the amount of water in the tankers’ toilets and fuel the aircraft can offload to fighter jets.
The Northrop Grumman-EADS supporters requested a meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in an Oct. 26 letter.