Gates: Pick cheapest tanker bid that meets regs

[unhappycamper]

Gates: Pick cheapest tanker bid that meets regs
By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 24, 2008 7:21:47 EDT

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates offered some advice Tuesday on how the next administration should settle the bitter bidding war for the $35 billion tanker contract: Set basic requirements, then choose the cheapest.

He said that since both bidders met the technical qualifications for the refueling aircraft, he toyed with the idea of changing the competition in the final days and making a decision based on which one offered the best deal.

“Who offered the cheapest, who could come up with the cheapest number for us to go forward,” Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said he ultimately ruled out the idea because it would be unfairly “changing the rules at the end of the game.”

The contentious battle for the contract has raged on for seven years, largely between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp.

Earlier this year, the team of Northrop and Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. was awarded the contract, but bidding was reopened after a Government Accountability Office report found serious flaws with the Air Force’s decision.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_gates_tanker_092308/%2e