Boeing: Briefing on tanker contract raises 'significant concerns

[babylonsister]

Boeing: Briefing on tanker contract raises 'significant concerns
By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Friday, March 7, 2008



WASHINGTON — After being briefed by the Air Force, The Boeing Co. said Friday that it had "significant concerns" about a Pentagon decision to award a $40 billion contract to a team that will use a European airplane to replace its fleet of Eisenhower-era aerial refueling tankers.

"What is clear is that reports indicating that the Airbus offering won by a wide margin could not be more inaccurate," said Mark McGraw, the vice president in charge of Boeing's tanker program.

McGraw said Boeing would give "serious consideration" to filing a protest.

Boeing will have 10 days to file a protest with the Government Accountability Office. The GAO then will have 100 days to rule on the protest.

"Our plan is to work through the weekend to come to a decision on our course of action early next week," McGraw said. "It will be a very rigorous and deliberative process to ensure we're balancing the needs of the war fighter with our desire to be treated fairly. For decades Boeing has been recognized as a defense company that never takes lightly protests of our customers' decisions."

Air Force officials have said that the bid from Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. easily won the competition for 179 new tankers. But Boeing and its supporters on Capitol Hill have charged that the Air Force changed the ground rules for the competition at the last minute in a way that favored the Northrop-EADS tanker.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/29779.html

[yourout]

1. I'm sorry but US military expenditures should go to US companys that pay US taxes.

[bbinacan]

2. Even if it means

buying inferior equipment?

[Diane R]

3. Read the article...this thing was rigged.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. The loser said it was rigged-- big surprise.