Beechcraft protested with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Friday the Air Force’s recent award of a $427 million contract to Sierra Nevada Defense Corp.
(SNC) to provide 20 of Brazilian manufacturer Embraer’s [ERJ] A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft as part of the Light Air Support program for Afghanistan’s nascent air force.
“Following our debrief with the Air Force earlier this week, we are very perplexed by this decision,” Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture said Friday in a statement. “Our belief that we have the best aircraft was confirmed by the Air Force rating our aircraft ‘exceptional’ and the fact that we are the lower cost solution was confirmed by the Air Force’s public award announcement.”
Beechcraft spokeswoman Nicole Alexander said Friday Beechcraft’s price for the contract, as awarded, would have been between $302 million and $427 million. Beechcraft offered its AT-6.
Beechcraft questioned how the Air Force could award the contract to SNC after an investigation by the service last year found evidence of bias toward SNC and Embraer, which lead to the Air Force’s decision to cancel SNC’s original contract and re-open competition (Defense Daily, Dec. 7). This is the second time in the LAS saga Beechcraft has protested the contract being awarded to SNC.
“We simply don’t understand how the Air Force can justify spending over 40 percent more, over $125 million more, for what we consider to be less capable aircraft,” Boisture said. “Given our experience of last year and our continued strong concern that there are, again, significant errors in the process and evaluation in this competition, we are left with no recourse other than to file a protest with the GAO.”
Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) told Defense Daily Friday he was “deeply disturbed” the Air Force would choose to spend 30 percent more on an aircraft that, he says, won’t even be built in the United States. Beechcraft is headquartered in Wichita, Kan.–Pompeo’s district.
“I would be surprised if this aircraft is ultimately built in the United States of America,” Pompeo said. “Last time I saw the facility (Embraer) is referring to, it looked like a 30,000 square foot empty hangar. There is a long ways between a 30,000 square foot empty hangar and a fully-capable production line.”
Pompeo said he, along with Kansas Senators Jerry Moran (R) and Pat Roberts (R), were in the process of writing a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel asking for an explanation.
Embraer says it will build the A-29 in Jacksonville, Fla.
GAO’s Ralph White told Defense Daily Friday the organization has 100 calendar days after receiving a protest to make a decision, which will be no later than June 17.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), an industrial trade union, criticized Friday the Air Force’s award to SNC, claiming in a statement it would threaten 1,400 U.S. jobs. The IAM represents more than 3,000 active and laid-off workers at Beechcraft, which recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
“I don’t know why the U.S. government is bending over backwards to accommodate Brazil in the midst of sequestration, but this is a real blow to American workers and taxpayers,” IAM President Tom Buffenbarger said Friday in a statement.