OSD expresses concern over protests
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, Department of Defense, EADS, Federal Budget Process, Northrop Grumman Corp., Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, development program, logistics
In this story Mr. Young, the Assistant Secretary of Defense of Acquisition, Technology and Logistics expresses concern over the recent amount of protests with large systems. Part of the story is letting Boeing know not to focus on the recent lost KC-45 award, but to look to future competitions. He also generally agreed with the recent GAO report that systems are over cost and behind schedule, but that is to be expected. Read more
Air Force leadership interfered in contract award, disciplined
Filed under: Contract Awards, Federal Budget Process, Protest, U.S. Air Force
It turns out, according to this article, that the Air Force violated all sorts of laws and regulations in awarding a media company a contract to help promote the Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team. The company that won cost twice as much as the other bidder, who protested the contract award in 2006. It turns out that the company that won had a recently retired Air Force general as a partner and the current uniformed leadership of the Air Force interfered to steer it to that company. Now several people have been admonished and reassigned. Read more
Good summary of the problems facing Boeing with the GAO
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., Protest, U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics
The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch has a good article summarizing the protest process. See the story here. It stresses that the GAO will overturn only if they find that the acquiring agency did not apply their criteria correctly during the source selection process, and even if they uphold the protest, the most likely result will be a reopening of the competition. Of note, 29% of protests last year were upheld.
Congress begins political war to overturn KC-45 decision
Filed under: Boeing, Contract Awards, EADS, Northrop Grumman Corp., U.S. Air Force, commercial aviation, logistics
Based on this story run in The Hays Daily News, Senators and Congressmen from the losing states are beginning the process to use politics to overturn the KC-45 award to Northrop-Grumman and EADS. Unfortunately there are Senators and Congressman from the states that stand to gain from the award. Read more





