EVERETT — The U.S. Air Force hasn’t released its requirements for an aerial refueling tanker contract, but already the Pentagon is drawing fire for its tactics.
“Despite Obama administration rhetoric about openness in federal contracting, the new and improved tanker selection process has all the transparency of the FBI’s witness protection program,” wrote Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, in a briefing released Friday.
Last year, the Pentagon halted the lucrative tanker contest between the Boeing Co. and duo Northrop Grumman and EADS after government auditors found multiple problems with the competition. The contest could resume shortly or Congress could intervene as soon as next week, forcing the Pentagon to divvy up the $35 billion deal between Boeing and Northrop.
This is the first of three rounds of government tanker procurement worth a total of $100 billion.
Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, who represents the state where Northrop would build its tanker, recently blocked Obama’s pick to lead Pentagon acquisitions, asking for assurances the nominee will conduct the competition in an “open and transparent” manner, he told the Mobile Press-Register newspaper.
But analyst Thompson believes the Air Force already has taken steps in the opposite direction.
In late February, the Air Force submitted fresh tanker requirements to the Pentagon’s review council. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council gave its OK “with almost no input from industry,” Thompson wrote. The Air Force took a similar strategy during the last competition, sparking confusion from Boeing and Northrop over what the Air Force wanted in a tanker and how it would evaluate contractors’ proposals.
“If you were planning to spend $100 billion over the next 30 years on a new aircraft fleet, wouldn’t you want to check with the only two qualified suppliers to determine whether your terms and specifications were reasonable?” Thompson wrote.
During the last round, the Air Force initially awarded Northrop and EADS the contract for their larger KC-30 tanker, based on an Airbus commercial jet. Boeing’s smaller, Everett-built KC-767 lost out. Boeing officials said they would have offered a larger tanker, built from a 777 model, had the Air Force been clear about its size and capability requirements.
The Air Force has been trying to replace its aging KC-135 Stratotanker fleet for nearly eight years. Boeing initially won a lease-buy contract with the government, which Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called off for lack of competition. The Chicago-based Boeing also offered jobs to a Pentagon weapons buyer and her family for steering the bid Boeing’s way.
In the meantime, the KC-135 fleet has grown even older, increasing maintenance and repair costs and raising questions about the safety of flying the tankers.
“Since nobody has ever operated jets for this long, there’s no way of knowing for sure when they will start falling out of the sky due to metal fatigue or corrosion,” analyst Thompson wrote.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., has voiced concerns about the Pentagon’s ability to replace the KC-135s in a timely manner. As chairman of defense appropriations committee, Murtha has floated a different solution: splitting the contract between Boeing and Northrop.
This week, the congressman told DoDBuzz.com, an online defense journal, that he has enough votes in committee to add a provision to the defense spending bill for the forced dual award. Murtha argues that his proposal not only saves taxpayers billions of dollars in KC-135 repairs, but also gets new tankers to war fighters quicker. Murtha could make his move next week when Congress looks at the Pentagon’s budget for funding military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While Northrop officials would have liked to have kept their initial contract, they’ve publicly said Northrop will support a split award. Boeing officials, however, have been more tight-lipped.
“We haven’t taken a position on a split buy,” said Bill Barksdale, a spokesman for Boeing’s tanker program, on Thursday. “We are waiting to see what strategy (the Air Force) puts forward.”
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