By Emelie Rutherford
Alabama’s Republican senators blocked a Senate vote on confirming Ashton Carter to the post of Pentagon acquisition chief last week because they said they are waiting for assurances from the nominee regarding how he will conduct the Air Force aerial-refueling tanker competition.
Because of the holds they placed on the confirmation vote, Carter will have to wait at least two weeks to start the weapons-buying job now held by John Young, because lawmakers will be in recess until April 20.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) wants to meet with Carter soon after the recess ends to discuss the tanker contract, which would be a boon to his state’s economy if a Northrop Grumman [NOC]-European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) team bests competitor Boeing [BA].
Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers in January he planned to meet with Air Force leaders and the new Pentagon acquisition chief and deputy defense secretary, once they all are confirmed, to plan the path forward for the stalled tanker competition; Carter is the only official not yet confirmed. Gates said at the time a new request for proposals (RFP) could emerge in the early spring.
Shelby said last Friday, “It is of the utmost importance that the new tanker competition be conducted in an open and transparent manner based on a best value process.”
“Before the new Request for Proposal is issued, we should have every assurance from Dr. Carter that the Department of Defense will proceed fairly to ensure our warfighters receive the most capable tanker possible,” Shelby, a defense appropriator, said in a statement.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), in explaining the hold on Carter’s confirmation, said in a statement: “I still have some unanswered questions about a commitment to a fair and open tanker competition.” Sessions sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC).
SASC Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said last Thursday on the Senate floor that he has talked to Shelby and Sessions about their concerns regarding Carter.
“Senator Shelby…has not had the opportunity that he seeks to talk to Mr. Carter,” Levin said. “He has made a commitment that he will do so as quickly as he possibly can after the recess so we can hopefully get to this nomination very promptly. It is essential this be taken up.”
Shelby hopes to meet with Carter “soon after recess” the senator’s spokesman Jonathan Graffeo said last Friday.
Sessions questioned Carter during his March 26 SASC confirmation hearing, asking the nominee to explain the principals he will apply to his supervision of the tanker bid process.
Alabama officials were upset last September to learn, shortly after Gates delayed the last tanker competition, that Northrop Grumman’s proposal would have cost less than Boeing’s (Defense Daily, Sept. 24, 2008). The competition was not based purely on cost.
Boeing also has significant support on Capitol Hill, where a group lawmakers from states including Washington cheered last year after government auditors upheld Boeing’s protest of the Pentagon’s since-cancelled February 2008 tanker contract award to Northrop Grumman.
Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), a defense appropriator and Boeing supporter, slammed Shelby last Friday, saying the Carter hold was “merely a backhanded way to try to skew the process to help the Airbus/Northrop Grumman partnership gain an upper hand in the tanker procurement process.”
“By blocking the nomination of the one person who must be in place at the Pentagon before the tanker acquisition can move forward,…Senator (Shelby) is guaranteeing that there will be a delay,” Dicks said in a statement.
Since Gates talked about his tanker plans in January, lawmakers including Defense Appropriations Defense subcommittee Chairman have encouraged the defense secretary to not pursue a traditional winner-take-all competition.
Murtha pitched a proposal to Gates last Thursday calling for a competitive dual procurement of both companies’ tankers, to ensure the often-stalled competition is not delayed by another protest from the loser of a traditional contract.
Gates plans to brief lawmakers and reporters today on his major programmatic recommendations to President Obama for the fiscal year 2010 defense budget.
Carter is a physicist and has been the chair of the International & Global Affairs faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Carter has spent his entire career in academia and government, and has an extensive arms-control and strategic-posture background. He served as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy in the Clinton administration, from 1993 to 1996.