Posted on 06/01/2009 7:58:02 PM PDT by jazusamo
The Air Force is moving forward with yet another Request for Proposal (RFP) to replace the ever-aging KC-135 aerial refueling tanker.
The Pentagon has been in the process of replacing the tanker since 2001. These aircraft are 50 years old on average and are showing the strain of their age. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has declared it a strategic priority to modernize these tankers for a new century's threats.
Yet, eight years later, a new tanker has not been built, and the acquisition process is mired in Washington politics. Our potential adversaries are watching while we debate and delay. As members of Congress and advocates for the war fighter, we would like to offer some thoughts from this side of the Potomac River.
• Build on the original RFP that worked. Build on RFP that was issued Jan. 30, 2007, after being thoroughly vetted through three publicly issued drafts. The 150-person Department of Defense (DoD) source selection team invested tens of thousands of hours in crafting that RFP and understanding the competitor's proposals. Don't throw away its work.
The Government Accountability Office found a grand total of eight discrepancies in the handling of that RFP out of the 111 complaints in the Boeing Co.'s protest. Rather than begin anew, the Air Force should tweak the RFP to address those eight GAO issues, and then we should move forward with the source selection.
To go back to square one to create a new RFP would add years - and millions of additional dollars - to the process. Nothing in the GAO findings demands a restart from scratch.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
good grief.
Who has a union giving money to Democrats?
That is who deserves to win.
I guess it’s being rigged for Boeing.
Everything I’ve read says that AB wins this one by a mile.
Their aircraft is much better, by nearly every measure.
Guess that means that O gives it Boeing.
I know a lot of time has been wasted and they’d better settle on one or the other. The AF needs these tankers and so far it’s been a real fiasco.
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