Thu, Nov 24, 2011
Air Force Has Refused A Second Request For An Explanation
Following the notification last week that Hawker Beechcraft
Corporation (HBC) was excluded from the Light Air Support (LAS)
bidding process, the company has requested that the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) review the Air Force's
decision.
"Yesterday (Monday), we received notification that the United
States Air Force formally denied our second request for a
debriefing. As a result, we still have no information on why the
Beechcraft AT-6 was excluded from the Light Air Support
competition," HBC said in a statement.
"We continue to believe that we offered the most capable,
affordable and sustainable light attack aircraft as measured
against the Air Force's Request for Proposal. HBC's exclusion from
competing for this important contract appears at this point to have
been made without basis in process or fact. We are very interested
in learning more about the decision and look forward to the results
of the GAO's review."
As ANN reported Tuesday, Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-KS)
(pictured), who represents the Wichita area, said he is also keenly
interested in the development. “It is vitally important for
the Pentagon to clarify this matter, especially in light of
allegations that Hawker’s main competitor in the LAS
competition, Embraer, is being investigated for violations of the
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," he said in a statement.
"Just last week, I alerted the Department of Defense to these
allegations. I will continue to closely follow this
issue.”
The primary competitor to HBC for the LAS is Embraer's Super
Tucano, which had been characterized by many as something of a dark
horse in this race. But it would appear that the billion-dollar
contract is now likely to be awarded to the Brazilian
manufacturer.
The Teal Group's Richard Aboulafia was quoted by the Wichita
Eagle as stating, “They (Hawker) seemed to be the front
runner for the contract... They had the most infrastructure spread
over the most states and the most political support.”
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