Boeing, Northrop/EADS To Make Their Cases

On Tuesday, US Air Force officials extended invitations to Boeing and Northrop Grumman, to make their cases for the $40 billion KC-X aerial tanker contract.

USAF acquisition chief Sue Payton told Reuters a team of 150 officials is working to determine which aircraft -- Boeing's KC-767, or the Northrop/EADS KC-30 -- best suits the service's needs. That team has submitted over 500 engineering notices to the two companies, asking for clarifications or notifying the companies of perceived weaknesses.

In the interest of transparency -- and to head off the faintest hint of the kind of improprieties that tanked Boeing's original KC-X win in 2004 -- the Air Force also wants to spend a day with each competitor, to address concerns and answer questions.

"They will be invited in for one of those interim discussions where we spend a day with the offerers ... and we tell them exactly where they've improved their weaknesses, where we find them to have strengths and where we still find them to have weaknesses," Payton said.

The meetings would take place after Thanksgiving. Both companies are expected to submit final bids in December, or early January; a decision by the Air Force is expected in February, about a month later than originally planned.

"There is a price to pay for openness and transparency, and that is time," Payton said. "I think we're looking more into the February timeframe [for a decision]. We're working it real hard."

FMI: www.af.mil, www.boeing.com, www.northropgrumman.com/kc30/