Lawmaker Charges Bias On New Tanker Bid

[unhappycamper]

Lawmaker Charges Bias On New Tanker Bid
August 06, 2008
Military.com|by Colin Clark and Greg Grant

Before the Pentagon could brief the press or explain its amended bid for the $35 billion tanker program to the public, Boeing's most powerful congressional supporter was crying foul.

Rep. Norm Dicks' office issued a statement at least an hour before the Pentagon's director of procurement unveiled the new draft request for proposal (RFP), saying that "there is an obvious change inserted into the System Requirements Document" which would favor the larger plane offered by Northrop Grumman. Dicks' office said that the revised tanker RFP "clearly favors the larger aircraft even though it is not necessarily connected to any real-world use of tanker." Dicks is one of the most powerful appropriators in Congress, where the Washington lawmaker is the Nr. 2 Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

Boeing filed a protest in March with the Government Accountability Office charging that Northrop Grumman's successful bid for the tanker was seriously flawed. The GAO agreed, issuing a stunning decision in June that the Air Force had botched the bid process and should reopen the bidding. The Air Force and the Pentagon, rocked by the GAO decision, agreed to amend the bid. The decision on what to do went to the highest level, with Defense Secretary Robert Gates weighing in and announcing that the Office of Secretary of Defense would handle the amended bid, not the Air Force, and a new independent panel would oversee the new bid.

Dicks has argued that the Air Force changed the basis for the competition when it decided to weigh its bid in favor of a tanker that can carry more fuel and offload that fuel more quickly.

Shay Assad, the Pentagon's director for defense procurement and acquisition policy and strategic sourcing, appeared sensitive to possible charges of bias, saying during a 20-minute press conference Wednesday afternoon that the military has "addressed the GAO findings in a measured and serious way and in a manner that's fair to both parties."


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/lawmaker-charges-bias-on-new-tanker-bid.html

[Angleae]

1. And Norm Dicks is an expert on aerial warfare?

He graduated college as a lawyer and immediately went into politics. He has no concept of what the AF does and does not need just what his corporate backers want.