Pentagon sees next step in tanker contest "sooner"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon expects to issue a draft request for proposals in the transatlantic battle to build new aerial tankers for the U.S. Air Force "sooner rather than later," spokesman Bryan Whitman said on Friday.
"It is moving along. The current projection is to get the draft RFP out onto the street in early August," Whitman said, saying the document could come next week or the week after.
Northrop Grumman Corp and its European partner EADS beat out Boeing Co to win a $35 billion order for 179 refueling tankers in February, but the Pentagon decided to reopen the competition after government auditors found significant errors in the Air Force's handling of the process.
Lawmakers supporting both teams have spoken out about the contested tanker competition and sent letters to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, while the companies continue to blast each other's offerings in dueling newspaper advertisements.
Whitman said Gates remains wedded to his decision to let the chief Pentagon arms buyer John Young run the competition, rather than the Air Force.
"I have not seen him express any concern about the way forward. He is confident that he has put into place a process and a methodology that will get us to where we need to be in a few months," he said.
Gates personally announced the reopening of the competition last month.
At the time, Young said he hoped to issue a new draft request for proposals in late July or early August that would address the issues raised by the Government Accountability Office and give bidders time to submit fresh bids, possibly with even lower cost estimates.
He said the goal is to award a new contract by December, but he would not allow a hurried reexamination of the bids. "We will not expedite steps in the process. We have to do this methodically, fairly and without bias in any way," he said.
A subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee this week recommended that the Pentagon should factor "industrial base" concerns into the competition, a move appearing to favor Boeing in its battle with Northrop over the lucrative contract.
Young has said that federal law bars consideration of the effect of contract awards on the defense industrial base or jobs issues, but that Congress could change the law.
The recommendation by the subcommittee was part of a $487.7 billion fiscal 2009 military spending bill. The legislation is subject to review by the full Appropriations Committee and would need to be reconciled with the Senate's version.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
