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WASHINGTON: Northrop Grumman Corp. renewed its threat Friday to quit vying against Boeing Co. for a potential $20 billion-plus US Air Force aerial refueling project if it concludes the deck is stacked against it.
Los Angeles-based Northrop, prime contractor of a team with the North American unit of Europe's EADS, cited draft bidding guidelines it described as favoring Chicago-based Boeing.
“If threshold and objective criteria are not clearly identified for key tanker requirements, and cost-to-capability, best-value evaluation metrics are not included in the final RFP, Northrop Grumman feels the KC-30 will be non-competitive and we will not bid,” said Randy Belote, a company spokesman.
RFP is short for request for proposal, or bid specifications. The final version is now expected to be published by the end of this month.
At issue is what Northrop describes as the lack of credit it would get under draft guidelines for fuel and cargo capabilities that go beyond the minimum needed to compete.
Northrop and EADS are offering a modified Airbus A330, dubbed the KC-30, that is said by experts to sell on the commercial market for about $160 million.
Boeing is proposing a modification of its 767-200 airliner, which sells for about $120 million, according to Loren Thompson of the Arlington, Virginia-based Lexington Institute, a research group with close ties to the Pentagon and industry.
Belote said the KC-30 carries 45,000 more pounds of fuel than the current U.S. KC-135 fleet, “yet it is not clear that evaluation criteria gives adequate credit for this additional capability.”
The Air Force declined to respond directly to Northrop's boycott threat, which would hark back to a doomed $23.5 billion sole-source lease-purchase Boeing deal killed by Congress in 2004.
“Our goal is a level playing field for all potential offerors,” said Donald Manuszewski, an Air Force spokesman.
He said Air Force officials conferred with Pentagon counterparts on Wednesday to fine-tune the bid specifications.
“As soon as it's the most comprehensive, understandable document possible, we will publish it,” he said.
