Boeing [BA] “likely” will not bid on the alternative for the Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Sight Terminals (FAB-T) but could modify the program of record to allow the government to create competition in the program, according to a company executive.
“I don’t have a change in my contract, but if that were to happen, then we would not bid on the alternative and we would, again, modify the program of record in a way that allows the government to create competition between what Boeing has done and, hopefully, will complete, and the alternative,” Roger Krone, Boeing’s network and space systems president, told Defense Daily Friday in an editorial board meeting.
The Air Force said in late February it will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for an alternate source for FAB-T as a “hedge” against, Boeing, the prime contractor, not being able to provide the capabilities the service needs (Defense Daily, Feb. 22).
Boeing is continuing work on the FAB-T. Krone said all of the hardware is qualified, the company is “88 percent” done with the software and has completed 37-of-53 “Boulders,” a software metric the company utilizes.
“We’re pretty far down the road on this program,” Krone said.
Krone said Boeing is well aware of what needs to change for the company to fulfill the FAB-T contract and that it will persevere.
“I’ve been in, obviously numerous meetings with the government about Boeing’s past performance and I understand people have questioned our ability to deliver on what the most pressing requirement is, and I can’t talk about what that is, but clearly it’s been articulated to us,” Krone said. “We are very confident that we can finish the program and deliver terminals to the customer to meet their most urgent needs. We’re confident enough to think about another business structure and take on more risk.
The Air Force told Congress and Boeing on Jan. 4 that it intended to terminate the contract, but on Jan. 9, the company submitted a firm fixed-price proposal to the service to complete the FAB-T development and on Jan. 13 issued a “not to exceed” for production. Although they weren’t firm proposals, they were enough to catch the eye of Frank Kendall, the Defense Department’s acting acquisition executive, who decided it would be “bad business” to not re-evaluate Boeing’s proposals.
FAB-T is an information and communications system that provides the link enabling strategic nuclear command and control using the Milstar Extremely High Frequency (EHF) and Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) waveforms. The Air Force has been concerned that Boeing will not be able to provide the capability it needs.