Washington, D.C. -- Air Force Tanker Contract

A review of the protracted struggle in the attempt to award a contract for a new Air Force tanker makes clear that it cannot be executed with a single source.  As a result of continued protests of the process, which are unlikely to cease, the Department of Defense should split the award between Boeing Company and the consortium headed by Northrop Grumman Corporation. 

It’s no longer a matter of selecting the best bid.  It’s a matter of selecting both bids or having no tanker at all.

The tanker project has been in one contract dispute after another for nearly seven years, during which our military pilots and flight crews are forced to fly with an aging fleet of KC-135s long past their intended service life.

Pending dramatic overhaul of the entire Department of Defense procurement process, there is little chance that a new generation of Air Force tankers will be provided to our armed forces by a single contractor in anything approaching a timely manner.

There is no resolution in sight for a selection procedure marked by accusations, complaints, lawsuits, GAO investigations and endless delay.  We cannot continue a process that tells bidders they will never lose if they hire enough lawyers and lobbyists and file enough protests.  Congress certainly cannot continue to passively observe this impasse.  If the Department of Defense finds it impossible to bring this controversy to conclusion, we must do so - now.

F-22
The Department of Defense (DOD) must respect Congress’s legislative authority. There is no branch of the United States government that is above the law. In the 2009 Defense Authorization Bill, DOD was directed to invest in the advance procurement of 20 F-22 aircraft so the Obama Administration could make the final recommendation about the future of the F-22.  That law has been flouted by DOD to kill the program.

As with any capital acquisition program, the Air Force needs to validate its requirements and determine the number of aircraft truly needed to execute future missions. Congress can, in turn, consider this when it makes its determination.  The twenty F-22s were a legislative priority of the various Congressional defense committees and the DOD needs to carry out the will of Congress accordingly.  Any reconsideration of the number of  F-22s will be taken up in the regular order of Congressional Committee deliberations.

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