KC-45 Contract Protest: Sec AF 'Unmoved'

Maybe Boeing Needs to Crank Out a Few More Revisions to the Protest?
In an Air Force news release titled "Air Force secretary discusses tankers, cyber operations" the Secretary of the Air Force ONCE AGAIN reiterated he believed the AF ran a clean KC-X competition:

He addressed other key acquisition issues, too. Speaking of the need to recapitalize, he said, "It's mandatory, so I'm he optimistic."

If the Air Force doesn't stay on track, it will simply age out the fleet. "At some point in time, we simply have to recapitalize," Secretary Wynne said.

He also touched on the recent decision to award the KC-45 tanker contract to a consortium co-led by European-based EADS Corp. and U.S.-based Northrop Grumman. He acknowledged that some have been critical of the decision, but he believes that criticism is unfounded. "

It's the law," he said flatly, noting that the Air Force could not have restricted the competition if it had wanted to.

He also reiterated that the competition was "free, open and above-board," saying that the Air Force made the right decision in terms of overall warfighter value. He also said he believes the Government Accountability Office, now conducting a review based on a protest by losing bidder Boeing, "will conclude with the fact that the Air Force, in this case, did it right."

Opening competition to allied-nation corporations is neither new nor unusual, citing several examples of international participation in the U.S. defense industrial base, the secretary said.

"The [p]residential helicopter was won by an Italian design. The Navy helicopter was won by an international design. So this is not unique," he said.

Not as exciting as a Boeing Program Manager insisting the AF gamed the results without being able to explain the motive is it?

But it is FAR (no pun intended) more believable.