Members of the Kansas congressional delegation want a “thorough, compelling explanation” from the Defense Department on why the Air Force awarded the $427.5 million Light Air Support (LAS) contract to Sierra Nevada Defense Corp. (SNC) instead of Wichita, Kan.-based Beechcraft.
In a Friday letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Senators Pat Roberts (R) and Jerry Moran (R) and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R) claim Beechcraft’s AT-6 cost 30 percent less than SNC’s winning bid to provide Brazilian manufacturer Embraer’s [ERJ] A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft for Afghanistan’s Air Force. The lawmakers also criticized DoD for choosing a manufacturer with foreign ties.
“Beechcraft’s proposal included the preservation of 1,400 domestic jobs at 181 companies in 39 states,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter. “With our national unemployment rate at 8 percent, it is imperative that programs funded by the taxpayer maintain a focus on increasing job growth and spending here at home.”
Beechcraft protested with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Friday over the contract award to SNC. This marks the second time Beechcraft has protested the LAS award to SNC, with the previous one coming in 2011.
Pompeo emphasized to Defense Daily Friday in an era of budget belt-tightening, the Air Force can’t afford to be spending more money than necessary.
“I learned that the Beechcraft product was more than 30 percent less expensive, according to the Air Force, and that the Beechcraft product presented a better overall value than the Embraer product,” Pompeo said. “In spite of those two facts, they chose not to select the Beechcraft airplane. That is deeply disturbing to me as a member of Congress and, frankly, as a taxpayer.”
But the Air Force said yesterday it ran a fair competition that came to a decision based not on lowest price, but “best value.”
“We are confident that this best value decision is well supported and that the offerors’ proposals were fully and fairly evaluated consistent with the evaluation criteria in the solicitation,” Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said in a statement.
The lawmakers also claim the Air Force’s rejection of the Beechcraft bid was largely premised on whether the AT-6 could receive certification, an unreasonable concern given the history of its aircraft certification in both the civil and military spheres.
Beechcraft spokeswoman Nicole Alexander said yesterday the AT-6C complies with all military-type certification standards and is ready for certification. Alexander also said the AT-6 is an enhanced and strengthened airframe from the Air Force’s T-6 aircraft that was first weaponized over a decade ago for the Greek Air Force.
SNC in a Friday statement bolstered its claim, saying the A-29 Super Tucano received an exceptional rating on technical capability and low-risk in all other categories. It also said only the A-29 is operational and performing light air support missions today.
After the LAS contract decision last month, Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.) predicted that the deal will create “at least” 50 “high-skilled” jobs in northeast Florida. Crenshaw’s district includes Jacksonville International Airport, where he said the A-29 will be assembled and tested.
GAO said it will have a decision on the protest no later than June 17 (Defense Daily, March 11).
SNC won its second attempt at the LAS contract despite a federal judge ruling last October the Air Force was justified throwing out the original award and recompeting the contract over alleged favoritism toward SNC in the previous competition (Defense Daily, Dec. 7).