By Marina Malenic
The long-awaited final request for proposals (RFP) to build a fleet of aerial refueling tankers for Air Force will be released “not earlier than” Feb. 23, according to a pre- solicitation notice released by the Pentagon on Monday.
“This acquisition will be a full and open, best value competition,” the Air Force said in a pre-solicitation notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities web site. The document details plans for a fixed-price contract for four developmental KC-X aircraft and options for up to 175 production models at a rate of about 15 aircraft per year. Proposals would be due 75 days from the date of the final RFP release, and a winner would be chosen in the fourth quarter of FY ’10.
“The Air Force anticipates a single award but reserves the right to award multiple contracts or not to award a contract at all,” the notice states.
A final RFP was originally expected on Nov. 30. However, the Defense Department is still studying the “financial arrangements” for the potential contract, a top Air Force official said last month. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said at the time that there would be no “substantial changes to the requirements side” and that the final RFP would be released within a month after the President’s FY ’11 budget proposal on Feb. 1 (Defense Daily, Jan. 22).
Pentagon officials have said an initial contract for 179 airplanes to replace the Eisenhower-era KC-135 could be worth up to $50 billion.
Executives at Boeing [BA], one of the two expected industry competitors for the contract, earlier this month said that they expected the Air Force to continue with plans for fixed-price development.
Representatives from the rival industry team, EADS North America and Northrop Grumman [NOC], won a contract to build 179 tankers for the Air Force in February 2008. The contract was canceled when U.S. auditors upheld a Boeing protest tied to Air Force missteps in evaluating bids. The Northrop Grumman-EADS team has threatened to walk away from the bidding if the final RFP is not altered substantially to make a Northrop Grumman-EADS bid viable from a business standpoint.
Pentagon officials have said competition remains the preferred acquisition strategy.