Boeing Can’t Be Seen As Taking Advantage Of Being Sole Bidder

Now, that Boeing is the only bidder on the KC-X, the Seattle Times notes that Boeing now has to make sure that it is not seen as taking advantage of being the sole bidder:

Northrop Grumman walked away from the $40 billion Air Force refueling-tanker competition Monday, drawing a widely criticized and nearly decadelong procurement process close to an outright Boeing victory.

With the likely prospect of air tankers rolling out of Everett until around 2027 at least, the outcome could secure as many as 2,000 direct jobs in Everett and an additional 6,000 statewide at suppliers and others, according to previous Boeing estimates.

Yet Northrop’s withdrawal leaves Boeing with a pricing dilemma as it prepares a final bid. The Pentagon, embarrassed by the lack of competition, now will be under extra scrutiny over what it pays for its tankers.

On one hand, because the contract is a fixed price — meaning the winner must swallow the loss if program costs escalate beyond the price it bids — Boeing typically would be expected to aim high, especially with no competition.

At the same time, Boeing will want to avoid the appearance that it is taking advantage of Northrop’s withdrawal to jack up the price.

“This competition was supposed to be a model for future procurement,” said Issaquah-based aviation analyst Scott Hamilton of Leeham.net. “It’s clear the Department of Defense fell short again in running a procurement process that works.”

The contract is to supply the Air Force with 179 tankers used to refuel fighter, transport and bomber aircraft en route to their targets.

Northrop had teamed with EADS, parent of European planemaker Airbus, to offer a tanker based on the Airbus A330.

In 2008, the Defense Department cited a rough contract value of $35 billion, or about $196 million per airplane, plus an extra $5 billion in operational support and other costs.

Certainly, the rivalry in the previous round of the tanker competition between the Boeing 767 and the A330 drastically reduced the cost to the taxpayer.

Read the entire article at the Seattle Times.

Backers of Two Tanker Contracts Want To Stay Anonymous

The Wichita Eagle reports that the a group backing building both the Boeing and EADs tankers, doesn’t want to reveal its backers:
The investors backing a campaign asking the government to split its contract for aerial refueling tankers between Boeing and Northrop Grumman want to remain anonymous for now. The campaign is called Build Them Both. “We are funded by a group of investors who have asked to remain nameless at this time,” said the effort’s campaign manager, Carrie Giddens. The group is not union sponsored and does not have ties to either Northrop or Boeing, Giddens said in an e-mail exchange. However, “we have sought out funding from both companies, their suppliers and unions who would be impacted by building them both.” The requests went out in the past two weeks. On Monday, Giddens called Northrop’s decision to pull out of the bidding process “bad news for American workers, our men and women in uniform, and for the taxpayer.” With only one company seeking a contract, 50,000 jobs that would have been created won’t be, Giddens said in the statement. “Without an ongoing competition there is no way to control costs, to the detriment of our military and taxpayer.”

Now Reports That EADS May Bid After All

There is a rumor that the Pentagon may delay the deadline for submission of a proposal for the KC-X to accommodate either a solo bid or another partnership. This contradicts what was reported yesterday that EADS-NA CEO Sean O’Keefe said the company wouldn’t bid without Northrop Grumman (NOC). It will be seriously difficult for the company to bid by itself. It would need to find another U.S. company to work with.

This might be second thoughts by DoD as they realize how difficult doing a single bid contract award will be. This is not a sole source contract but right now it would only receive one qualified offer.

EADS-NA Says Not Comfortable Priming KC-X Contract

Aviation Week is reporting that EADS-North America felt it needed an partner on the KC-X contract as it was not comfortable being the prime for such a large effort. While EADS has experienced some decent growth in the U.S. it still has a fairly lean organization.

The company was confident that they could provide to Northrop the basic airframes on cost and schedule. Northrop would have then been responsible for the necessary military modifications. EADS would have had to find a partner in General Dynamics, Raytheon or Lockheed Martin. There would be few large contractors available in the U.S. with the past experience to support a contract of this size.

Still Some Support For Northrop

Congressman Howard McKeon (R-CA) put out a statement today supporting Northrop. He said that he was “disappointed that Northrop Grumman has decided not to submit a proposal to build the Air Force’s next generation aerial refueling tanker.” He would like Northrop to reconsider its position.

Northrop is currently headquartered in California and has several thousand employees there. It is planning on moving to the Washington DC area in the near future.

The decision leaves Boeing as the sole announced bidder.

Press Release — Statement on US Refueling Tanker Program Announcement

Statement on US Refueling Tanker Program Announcement

WASHINGTON, March 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The European Commission notes yesterday’s decision by Northrop Grumman / EADS not to submit a bid to the US Department of Defense for the US Air Force’s aerial refueling tanker contract.

“It is highly regrettable that a major potential supplier would feel unable to bid for a contract of this type. Open procurement markets guarantee better competition and better value for money for the taxpayer,” stated EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht.

In February 2008, Northrop Grumman / EADS was selected and awarded the contract to provide aerial refueling tankers for the US Air Force in a fair and transparent competition. This was a positive sign for free and open competition across the Atlantic. This also seemed to indicate that successful bids are possible when European industry teams up with US industry and they are allowed to compete fairly. This award was subsequently cancelled at the end of 2008.

In December 2009, Northrop Grumman / EADS expressed serious concerns to the Department of Defense and the US Air Force on the proposed acquisition criteria for the contract.

The European Commission would be extremely concerned if it were to emerge that the terms of tender were such as to inhibit open competition for the contract.

The US defense trade balance with the EU has traditionally been significantly in the US’ favor. In 2008 the US exported $5 billion and imported only $2.2 billion worth of defense material, in line with a historic ratio of double exports to imports.

The Commission will be following further developments in this case very closely.

Source: Delegation of the European Union to the United States

Statement From Northrop Grumman on U.S. Air Force Aerial Refueling Tanker Program — Press Release

Statement From Northrop Grumman on U.S. Air Force Aerial Refueling Tanker Program

WASHINGTON, March 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The following is a statement from Wes Bush, Chief Executive Officer and President of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) , concerning the U.S. Air Force aerial refueling tanker program.

“After a comprehensive analysis of the final RFP, Northrop Grumman has determined that it will not submit a bid to the Department of Defense for the KC-X program. We reached this conclusion based on the structure of the source selection methodology defined in the RFP, which clearly favors Boeing’s smaller refueling tanker and does not provide adequate value recognition of the added capability of a larger tanker, precluding us from any competitive opportunity.

“Northrop Grumman fully respects the Department’s responsibility to determine the military requirements for the new tanker. In the previous competition, Northrop Grumman was selected by the Air Force as offering the most capable tanker for the warfighter at the best value for the taxpayer. However, the Northrop Grumman and EADS team is very disappointed that the revised source selection methodology now dramatically favors Boeing’s smaller refueling tanker. We agree that the fundamental military requirements for the new tanker have not changed since the last competition, but the Department’s new evaluation methodology now clearly favors the smaller tanker.

“We continue to believe that Northrop Grumman’s tanker represents the best value for the military and taxpayer – a belief supported by the selection of the A330 tanker design over the Boeing design in the last five consecutive tanker competitions around the globe. Regrettably, this means that the U.S. Air Force will be operating a less capable tanker than many of our Allies in this vital mission area.

“Our prior selection by the Air Force, our firm belief that we provide the best value offering, and the hard work and commitment of the many individuals and communities on our team over many years made this a difficult decision for our company. But we have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders to prudently invest our corporate resources, as do our more than 200 tanker team suppliers across the United States. Investing further resources to submit a bid would not be acting responsibly.

“We have decided that Northrop Grumman will not protest. While we feel we have substantial grounds to support a GAO or court ruling to overturn this revised source selection process, America’s service men and women have been forced to wait too long for new tankers. We feel a deep responsibility to their safety and to their ability to fulfill the missions our nation calls upon them to perform. Taking actions that would further delay the introduction of this urgent capability would also not be acting responsibly.

“We recognize that our decision likely creates a sole-source outcome for Boeing. We call on the Department to keep in mind the economic conclusions of the prior round of bidding as it takes actions to protect the taxpayer when defining the sole-source procurement contract. In the previous round, the Air Force, through a rigorous assessment of our proposal, determined that it would pay a unit flyaway cost of approximately $184 million per tanker for the first 68 tankers, including the non-recurring development costs. With the Department’s decision to procure a much smaller, less capable design, the taxpayer should certainly expect the bill to be much less.”

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.

Source: Northrop Grumman Corporation

Reports That Northrop Won’t Bid

It is being reported that Northrop Grumman (NOC) will not submit a proposal in response to the new KC-X RFP released at the end of last month. Supposedly the announcement will be made after the markets close. Northrop had written to the DoD in December saying they most likely would not without changes in the RFP to make it fairer to the Airbus 330 based aircraft.

There is no word on whether EADS will find another partner or bid by themselves for the $35 billion contract.

Statement From Northrop Grumman on U.S. Air Force Aerial Refueling Tanker Program

Statement From Northrop Grumman on U.S. Air Force Aerial Refueling Tanker Program
March 8, 2010

WASHINGTON, -- The following is a statement from Wes Bush, Chief Executive Officer and President of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), concerning the U.S. Air Force aerial refueling tanker program.

"After a comprehensive analysis of the final RFP, Northrop Grumman has determined that it will not submit a bid to the Department of Defense for the KC-X program. We reached this conclusion based on the structure of the source selection methodology defined in the RFP, which clearly favors Boeing's smaller refueling tanker and does not provide adequate value recognition of the added capability of a larger tanker, precluding us from any competitive opportunity.

"Northrop Grumman fully respects the Department's responsibility to determine the military requirements for the new tanker. In the previous competition, Northrop Grumman was selected by the Air Force as offering the most capable tanker for the warfighter at the best value for the taxpayer. However, the Northrop Grumman and EADS team is very disappointed that the revised source selection methodology now dramatically favors Boeing's smaller refueling tanker. We agree that the fundamental military requirements for the new tanker have not changed since the last competition, but the Department's new evaluation methodology now clearly favors the smaller tanker.

"We continue to believe that Northrop Grumman's tanker represents the best value for the military and taxpayer – a belief supported by the selection of the A330 tanker design over the Boeing design in the last five consecutive tanker competitions around the globe. Regrettably, this means that the U.S. Air Force will be operating a less capable tanker than many of our Allies in this vital mission area.

"Our prior selection by the Air Force, our firm belief that we provide the best value offering, and the hard work and commitment of the many individuals and communities on our team over many years made this a difficult decision for our company. But we have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders to prudently invest our corporate resources, as do our more than 200 tanker team suppliers across the United States. Investing further resources to submit a bid would not be acting responsibly.

"We have decided that Northrop Grumman will not protest. While we feel we have substantial grounds to support a GAO or court ruling to overturn this revised source selection process, America's service men and women have been forced to wait too long for new tankers. We feel a deep responsibility to their safety and to their ability to fulfill the missions our nation calls upon them to perform. Taking actions that would further delay the introduction of this urgent capability would also not be acting responsibly.

"We recognize that our decision likely creates a sole-source outcome for Boeing. We call on the Department to keep in mind the economic conclusions of the prior round of bidding as it takes actions to protect the taxpayer when defining the sole-source procurement contract. In the previous round, the Air Force, through a rigorous assessment of our proposal, determined that it would pay a unit flyaway cost of approximately $184 million per tanker for the first 68 tankers, including the non-recurring development costs. With the Department's decision to procure a much smaller, less capable design, the taxpayer should certainly expect the bill to be much less."

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Statement by Deputy Secretary William Lynn on Northop Grumman Tanker Announcement

March 8, 2010 by Jeffrey Bradford · Comment
Filed under: EADS, Syndicated Industry News 
Statement by Deputy Secretary William Lynn on Northop Grumman Tanker Announcement
March 8, 2010

"We are disappointed by Northrop's decision not to submit a bid for the U.S. Air Force tanker replacement program.

In the last tanker replacement (KC-X) competition, Northrop Grumman competed well on both price and non-price factors. We strongly believe that the current competition is structured fairly and that both companies could compete effectively.

Based on the inputs we received from both offerors to the Department's draft Request for Proposal (RFP), we made changes to reduce the out-year risk to the potential manufacturers of KC-X. However, we did not change the war-fighters' requirements to accommodate either offeror.

The Department strongly supports trans-Atlantic defense industrial ties and believes they benefit the American war-fighter and taxpayer."


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Boeing Will Submit Proposal Based on K-767

As it did in the last contest two years ago Boeing (BA) plans to submit a 767 based tanker. This is similar to the ones they are already building for Japan. To differentiate it from previous versions they are calling it a “NewGen” aircraft. Boeing will upgrade the basic 767 design with a new fueling boom and parts of the 787 cockpit technology.

There is still no formal word from Northrop Grumman (NOC) or EADS (EADS:P) if they plan to submit a proposal this time around.

EADS Supports Bid For KC-X

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.

Boeing Unions Support Single Source Contract

According to The Seattle Pilot-Intelligencer the International Association of Machinists District 751 wrote to the new Build Them Both Coalition that they support Boeing’s bid for the KC-X. They were responding to a letter sent to them by Build Them Both. The IAM argued that a split buy would not meet their goals of maximizing Washington jobs.

As Expected Alabama Press Critical Of Air Force RFP

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

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.

New Group Advocating For Split Tanker Buy

The Washington Post writes today about a new group buying advertisements to support the concept of buying KC-X tankers from both Boeing (BA) and Northrop Grumman (NOC). The group is called “Build Them Both” and its financiers have so far remained private. The idea of a split buy was floated last year but despite the ability to produce aircraft faster the related logistical costs are so high that the Air Force and DoD won’t consider it.

The article may be found here as the second part of the post.

Hopes High That This Try Is The End Of The KC-X Contest

Over at BNET: Government where I also publish I have a piece on how this third try will be the winning one for the Air Force and Defense Department to get a new aircraft to replace the aging KC-135 fleet. There still remain many challenges with the contest as Northrop may not bid and Boeing has expressed concerns with the fixed price portion of the contract.

It will be an interesting next few months as this is all worked out. Next deadline is May 10th when proposals are due.

In Comparison To Those In Alabama Boeing Supporters Confident

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.

Alabama Senators Not Happy With New RFP

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

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.

Trimble Questions New Group Lobbying For KC-X Split Buy

February 23, 2010 by admin · 1 Comment
Filed under: Boeing, Congress, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Syndicated Industry News 

UPDATE: Stephen Trimble has said the following in response to this post: I’m a headline! (Although I wasn’t really trying to “denounce” anybody — just raising questions.). So, I’ve changed “Denounce” to “Question” in both the title and the first sentence.

At Flight Global, Stephen Trimble has written a blog post questioning the formation of a new group that is lobbying for a split tanker buy:

Just when you might think the “split buy” idea for KC-X is dead and buried, it seems to be back today.

A self-described non-partisan coalition called American Jobs Now! has launched a well-funded push on Capitol Hill called “Build Them Both”. This is not a fly-by-night lobby group.  Carrie Giddens, formerly communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party during the 2008 presidential election, is the newly-hired organizer. The group also published full-page advertisements in Politico (which published today) and tomorrow in The Hill newspaper. The ad says a split buy “will speed the delivery”, “retire an outdated fleet” and “will save taxpayers” money. Above all, the split buy will create “100,000 new US jobs”.

Let’s put our questions about those facts aside, just for the moment. (Not to get nit-picky, but surely a single project to build, at most, 25-30 aircraft a year will not consume one-seventh of the US aerospace workforce. Besides – wink, wink – those 100,000 aerospace workers are already busy building the last 40 F-22s.)

The big question, of course, is which side is this group on?

Trimble spends the rest of this column trying to get a clear answer to this question. If you are interested, go to Flight Global to read the rest.

LA Times Has Good Summary Of The KC-X Situation

The Los Angles Times today published a short article by W.J. Henigan that summarizes the current situation. He stresses that Los Angeles based Northrop Grumman (NOC) not participating may make the whole attempt moot again. He writes:

“But there are already signs that the competition could be derailed once again. Century City-based Northrop Grumman Corp., one of the two contenders, has threatened to withdraw its bid, accusing the Air Force of writing specifications that favor its rival, Boeing Co.”

The rest of the article may be found here.

Air Force Plans Quick Turn Around On KC-X Contract

It is expected that the final RFP for the KC-X New Aerial Tanker program will be released this week. At a recent forum the Secretary of the Air Force, Michael Donley, said that they hope to have the contract awarded by the end of the summer. This means that if you allow a few months for the proposals to be prepared and submitted the source selection will only take ninety days or so. This is an aggressive time line for a contract this large.

It may be that the Air Force is expecting the Boeing (BA) and Northrop Grumman (NOC) proposals to be much like the ones they submitted in 2008. This will make it easier to do an evaluation and award. There is a great deal of historical work to draw upon. Of course that competition ended in a Northrop win, a Boeing protest, and the GAO upholding it. This led to the current attempt at a contract.

Of course if only Boeing submits a bid as might happen it will make the whole selection process easier.

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) Opposes Airbus

February 20, 2010 by admin · Comment
Filed under: Airbus, Boeing, EADS, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Syndicated Industry News 

Jason Lean, the Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) has sent a letter to the Tallahasee Democrat opposing the award of the KC-X contract to Airbus on the grounds that “taxpayers shouldn’t pay for foreign jobs.” The letter reads:

“Nearly all Americans know how dire the unemployment picture is today. Unfortunately, the recent job loss numbers show that even harder times are on the horizon (“Jobless rate inches higher statewide but drops slightly in Leon County,” news article, Jan. 23).

But what most Americans don’t know is that the Department of Defense is considering awarding to the Europeans a major defense contract that outsources an additional 50,000 jobs abroad.

Even worse, the European defense contractor in question — EADS/Airbus — is a pariah company that was just found by the World Trade Organization to have thieved tens of thousands of American jobs in an illegal subsidy scheme that allowed it to steal market share from the U.S. aerospace company, Boeing.

There may be controversy about whether we need another federal stimulus plan to create American jobs. But there should be no controversy over the view that American taxpayers should not fund a European jobs stimulus plan for an outlaw company.”

You can read the letter at Tallahasee Democrate.

Fox News Supports Airbus KC-X Bid

February 18, 2010 by admin · Comment
Filed under: Airbus, EADS, Editorial, KC-X, KC-X Tanker News, Military Aviation 

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