Is It A Tanker Competition When Only One Company "Competes"

Despite winning the initial bid, Northrop and EADS will not bid on the US tanker contract. Boeing is going to win, because they are the only 'competitor'. Congress will rejoice, claiming a great victory for the American worker. No one is going to ask whether or not this 'victory' is going to result in a reduction in the capability of the tanker we're buying. No one is going to ask whether or not it's more important to put fighters in the air over Kandahar than jobs in Kansas, where re-election campaigns are more important than the lives of the American servicemembers in a war zone.

Top US defense contractor Northrop Grumman and European partner EADS said Monday they would not bid for a 35-billion-dollar US Air Force tanker plane contract, clearing the way for a Boeing win.
Northrop Grumman said it had decided not to compete because the US Air Force's request for proposals for the contract published last month "favors" Boeing.
Northrop said it would not submit a bid to the Department of Defense for the KC-X tanker plane program following a "comprehensive analysis" of the requirements.
The request "clearly favors Boeing's smaller refueling tanker and does not provide adequate value recognition of the added capability of a larger tanker, precluding us from any competitive opportunity," Wes Bush, chief executive and president of Northrop Grumman, said in a statement.
The tankers refuel warplanes in mid-air.
The Northrop-EADS team won the contract in February 2008, but the deal was canceled after Boeing successfully appealed the decision to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

Gee Boeing. I'll bet your mother is proud of your ability to protest. Because your ability to bid on and win a contract on your own merits seems questionable.

By: Brant