EADS Supports Bid For KC-X
Filed under: Alabama, Boeing, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Protest, Syndicated Industry News
It is being reported by various sources that EADS is pressuring Northrop Grumman to go ahead and submit a bid for the new KC-X RFP. Northrop had informed the Government that they planned not to if the terms were not significantly changed. They felt the RFP was favoring Boeing’s cheaper, smaller KC-767 aircraft.
The final RFP came out two weeks ago and still no word from Northrop that they will go ahead and submit something in May. EADS obviously would like another chance to win the contest after they lost the last one to Boeing’s protest in 2008. The $35 billion would go a long way to make up for the lost A400M revenue.
As Expected Alabama Press Critical Of Air Force RFP
Filed under: Alabama, Boeing, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Syndicated Industry News
Writing in support of Northrop Grumman and the “Mobile region” the Mobile Press-Register has and editorial summing up the situation on the new RFP from their view. They do not demand that the RFP be changed or the contract be given to Northrop and EADS but they do point out that:
“If Northrop pulls out of the contest, Boeing may get the tanker contract, but the entire deal will be tainted — first by Boeing’s own corruption and collusion with some Pentagon officials several years ago over an earlier version of the tanker deal, and second by a decision-making process that puts politics above defense needs.”
It is true that a single bid competition is not much of a competition.
KC-X Tanker Proposal News
Filed under: BNET, Boeing, Business Line, Companies, Department of Defense, EADS, Events, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., Proposal, Services, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, development program, logistics
To our loyal readers we are not ignoring the KC-X tanker RFP on Defense Procurement News but we have established a separate site, KC-X Tanker News, to cover that issue.
In Comparison To Those In Alabama Boeing Supporters Confident
Filed under: Airbus, Alabama, Boeing, Congress, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Syndicated Industry News, Washington
The Herald a newspaper in Everett, WA has an article discussing how happy and confident Boeing’s legislator supporters are with the new RFP released yesterday by the Air Force. This is the opposite as to how those from Alabama feel. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) is quoted as saying, “Given a fair shot, Washington state’s workers will bring home this contract,” Murray said. “We have the skills, the technology, and the experience of having built the only combat-ready tanker to prove it.”
If Northrop Grumman (NOC) and its partner Airbus don’t submit a bid it will be hard for Boeing (BA) to not win the contract. Hence the happiness of their supporters.
Air Force Hopes Third Time is Lucky in Boeing-Airbus Tanker Contest
The final RFP for the U.S. Air Force's new aerial tanker was released Wednesday. The Government hopes that more then one bid will be received....Alabama Senators Not Happy With New RFP
Filed under: Alabama, Boeing, Congress, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Syndicated Industry News
In an article in The Mobile Press Register Senators Shelby (R-AL) and Sessions (R-AL) make it clear that they are not happy with the new RFP. Shelby says “The final RFP discredits the integrity of the entire process,” and Sessions seems to feel that Northrop Grumman (NOC) won’t bid. He laments the lack of competition in the process.
This of course is not a surprising reaction as Northrop and EADS planned to assemble the basic A330 aircraft in Mobile, AL and then integrate the military systems at a Northrop facility.
New RFP Released Today
Filed under: Boeing, Congress, Department of Defense, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Protest, Syndicated Industry News
The Air Force and Department of Defense acquisition officials briefed Congress and the press today on the new RFP for the KC-X. It had some slight changes from the draft release a few months ago. The key question is will Northrop bid this time around?
They won the last contract to have that thrown out on Boeing’s protest. Much more to come on this in the days ahead.
Support For Northrop Not Bidding On KC-X
Filed under: Alabama, Boeing, Congress, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Syndicated Industry News
Northrop Grumman and its partner EADS threatened a few weeks ago not to participate in the next attempt at buying a new tanker for U.S.A.F. Many feel that this is just a negotiating ploy to have the terms of the RFP changed to make it easier for Northrop to win. The company has expressed concern that the way the RFP is written now it will favor Boeing to the point that Northrop sees no reason to bid.
The U.S.A.F. and DoD need to attract multiple bids. They cannot go through with the program without some sort of competition. Now it has been made clear that both the Board of Directors of Northrop, stock analysts are shareholders are supportive of the plan not to propose. One would think that there should be an attempt to win $35 billion of work but the goal of Mr. Bush, the new CEO, and his supporters is to increase the margin and profitability of the company. This means he and his supporters want to concentrate on getting work and getting it done.
The KC-X program in its third iteration faces some problems. The chance of a protest by either losing side is high. Both teams have supporter in Congress. The program may be hard to get up-and-running with so much politics involved. If Northrop feels there is little chance of them winning this contract again or quickly making money off of it then they should not proceed.
Presumed Bidders Meet With Air Force
Filed under: Boeing, Congress, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Northrop Grumman Corp., Syndicated Industry News
It has been reported that last week Boeing (BA), Northrop Grumman (NOC) and EADS (EADS.P) had a series of meetings with the Air Force to discuss the draft KC-X RFP and the final one. After these meetings EADS and Northrop made clear that their threat not to submit a bid without changes to the RFP language was not an idle negotiation ploy as some have said. The companies believe that the current RFP is biased towards the smaller, cheaper Boeing 767 rather then the larger Airbus 330.
The discussions also indicate that the final RFP will come out before the end of January. Without two bidders it will be hard for the Air Force to proceed so they need a proposal from Northrop and EADS. At the same time they must have an RFP that will hopefully be protest proof and get the needed capability quickly.
Northrop Threatens To Take Ball And Go Home On KC-X
Northrop Grumman sent a letter yesterday to the Defense Department threatening to not propose for the KC-X competition when the final RFP is...Northrop Threatens To Take Ball And Go Home On KC-X
Northrop Grumman sent a letter yesterday to the Defense Department threatening to not propose for the KC-X competition when the final RFP is...EADS Continues Efforts To Gain Support Of Tanker
Filed under: Alabama, Congress, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Syndicated Industry News
It has been reported that EADS spent almost $200,000.00 last quarter on just tanker related lobbying. It is not uncommon for larger companies of all sorts to spend time in Congress working to support their programs and proposals.
The KC-X contract being so important this effort will be even more concentrated. EADS work with its supportive Congressional members has already worked out well especially with the delegation from Alabama. Support like this will be key as the RFP goes final, proposals are submitted and the source selection works its course. The next quarter reports should show similar numbers.
Criticism In Malaysia Of Sole Source Submarine Contract
Filed under: Business Line, Contract Awards, Events, Malaysia, production program
In 2002 the Malaysian Government signed a contract to purchase two advanced diesel electric submarines from European manufacturers. The contract was worth about $1.5 billion. The first vessel has already been delivered and the second will be next year.
The opposition parties are criticizing the government for not doing the contract through competitive bids but rather sole sourcing it to France’s Aramis and Spain’s Navantia. The normal practice in Malaysia is to competitively bid large contracts but the Government defended the contract as protecting defense information. The argument must be that since no public RFP was put out only the builder learned about the requirements and capabilities needed. It is rather a strange argument unless there is an acceptance that only domestic suppliers can be trusted and as in this case there were none.
DoD Early Estimates Two Tankers Have High Costs
Prior to the release of the latest RFP for the KC-X tanker program some in Congress and the media mooted using a split award for the aircraft. This would allow for faster fielding of tankers to expedite replacement of the older KC-135’s. It would also possibly reduce the chance of a protest by either Northrop or Boeing as well as spreading the contract around to different states. The biggest issue with the idea is that it would add cost to the program. Through the necessity of having two separate support tails the overall program would be more expensive. There would be two training tracks, sets of support equipment and parts pools alone. The aircraft also may not be complimentary. The DoD estimated back in April that the total additional cost would be over $14 billion. Obviously neither the Air Force or the U.S. Government has this kind of money available to support the idea. It would have to be payed for at the expense of other Air Force or DoD programs. It may be that cost estimates with more refinement are created that reduce this, but right now the plan is one company and one aircraft.Army fantasies on ARH
The Army is hoping with the termination of the Bell contract for the ARH that a new competition can be conducted and a new aircraft and contractor can be chosen. They are living in a fantasy land. The way that past competitions for these types of aircraft have been going any RFP and source selection will take a few months and a protest is almost guaranteed. Without changing the requirements for the system the Army will be seeing the same bidders, Bell and Boeing. If they do not want a larger aircraft then before Agusta Westland, EADS and Sikorsky will have a hard time preparing a proposal. One also hopes that the Army will also prepare a more realistic cost and schedule estimate.
See Rueters for the story.
Tanker decision fallout
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, EADS, Military Aviation, Proposal, Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, development program, logistics, production program
A fallout from Secretary Gates’ decision to postpone the KC-45 RFP is that EADS now is discussing whether they will bid on the contract next year. Boeing had threatened to not compete, feeling the terms where not in their favor and now EADS is upset that the recompete cannot go forward. Without two competitors it will be hard to have a competition. Unfortunately unless you want a Russian aircraft proposed their are only two companies capable of bidding – Boeing and EADS. McDonnel Douglas, who actually won the last tanker contract with the KC-10, is now part of Boeing.
See the press release at TheEarthTimes.
Representative Asks For Tanker Bid Delay
Filed under: Contract Awards, EADS, Military Aviation, Pratt & Whitney, U.S. Air Force
U.S. Rep. Joseph D. Courtney, from Connecticut, has written to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to ask him to delay the renewed bidding for the $35 billion aerial refueling tanker contract. “It is important to get this decision right,” Courtney said, because it is “one of the most critical components of our national security.” Courtney is particularly concerned that there be adequate time for the RFP “to be vetted by the competitors and evaluated by Congress.”
The Pentagon is committed to a quick timetable, but Courtney argues that such an “unnecessarily aggressive timeline for a final decision, will once again tilt the outcome” in favor of EADS. Courtney is very interested in the process, because the Boeing tanker’s engines would be made by East Hartford-based Pratt & Whitney.
More details on Courtney’s letter can be found at Hartford Business.
Europeon view of KC-45
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, EADS, Federal Budget Process, GAO, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., Proposal, Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, development program, logistics, production program
This article in the Deutsche Welle provides a good round up of the current on goings of the KC-45 recompete. It reiterates that despite rumors on not participating in this round Boeing went ahead and had their meeting with OSD and the Air Force to discuss the RFP. Obviously there is a great deal of interest in Germany, and Europe as a whole, for EADS to win the contract. It would be the largest to date for a primarily European based company.
Renewed helicopters for India
Filed under: HAL, India, Military Aviation, Proposal, development program, production program
India has decided to put out an RFP for light helicopters after all the back-and-forth. See an article here. As previously discussed the planned acquisition was canceled, then planned again, and now it will be for a reduced number than the last attempt. Now rather then going with a 100% foreign buy the contract will be split between a non-Indian company and HAL. One positive of this is that they plan to limit the tech transfer, requirements that recently have been seen as onerous, to only those for the support of the aircraft.
DoD and USAF agree to recompete KC-45 contract
Filed under: Boeing, Department of Defense, EADS, GAO, Military Aviation, Northrop Grumman Corp., Proposal, Protest, U.S. Air Force, development program, logistics, production program
In light of the GAO report the USAF and DoD decided to recompete the new tanker contract. See an article here. This, like the CSAR-X, means that a whole new competition will be held. The Air Force will rewrite the RFP and Boeing and Northrop Grumman will resubmit proposals. Much of the work preparing these will be already done which will speed up the process for the bidders.
Jesse Jackson editorilizes in favor of Boeing for KC-X
Filed under: Boeing, Commentary, Contract Awards, EADS, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics
In another demonstration of why moving the headquarters of their company to Chicago was a good idea, Boeing gets Jesse Jackson to publish an editorial in The Washington Times in favor of them winning the KC-X contract. See the essay here. The Air Force is supposed to announce the winner by the end of the month. Read more
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