A top U.S. Air Force official announced Friday that the government won’t award a controversial tanker contract until November, delaying the decision by as much as two months.
The Boeing Co. is battling the European aerospace consortium EADS for the $35 billion contract, and the government gave EADS more time to submit its bid after EADS partner Northrop Grumman dropped out of the contest.
A Northrop/EADS partnership was awarded the previous bid, but that contract was set aside after the Government Accounting Office agreed with a Boeing appeal that suggested Northrop received special consideration.
The delay announced Friday — the latest in a series of postponements — has some Boeing advocates calling foul.
“It’s now clear that the Pentagon is playing games,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a prepared statement.
The award for the refueling tanker was expected in early fall, and Air Force officials said that wouldn’t change when they granted EADS an extension to submit its bid.
Lt. Gen. Mark Shackelford told reporters Friday that planning decisions led to the delay.
The announcement came after Air Force officials granted EADS a two-month extension to prepare its bid, causing some to question if the Pentagon was playing favorites.
EADS would build its tanker on an Airbus A330, a larger commercial jet than the 767 assembled in Everett that has been offered by Boeing. EADS had complained that the new bid specifications seem to favor a smaller aircraft this time.
Murray accused the Pentagon of making plans “to bend over backward for Airbus,” and said the company is unfairly slowing the process down.
The World Trade Organization recently determined that Airbus received illegal “launch aid” for other aircraft programs.
Some members of Congress from Washington state are trying to penalize EADS for what they say is an illegal advantage in the bidding war.
The Fair Defense Competition Act, introduced this spring, would force the Pentagon to acknowledge and consider that Airbus received unfair help from European governments.
Read Amy Rolph’s small-business blog at www.heraldnet.com/TheStorefront. Contact her at 425-339-3029 or arolph@heraldnet.com.
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