By Emelie Rutherford
Two senators blocking a vote to confirm Ashton Carter as Pentagon acquisition czar said this week they will not back down without further assurance the Pentagon will judge a new aerial-refueling tanker competition on a “best value” basis.
Sens. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) both put holds on Carter’s confirmation in the Senate early this month over concerns with how the Pentagon will assess a Northrop Grumman [NOC]-European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) team’s tanker proposal in a competition with Boeing [BA]. Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to solicit bids for a new contest this summer.
Shelby and Sessions, backers of the Northrop-EADS team, are concerned the Pentagon will base the new competition on price alone, while they want it based on a “best value” assessment that looks at additional factors. Northrop-EADS had a lower bid last year in a previous contest. However, the Alabama senators are concerned Boeing could offer a lower price in a new contest; that’s because, as a result of Boeing’s successful protest of Northrop-EADS’ since-canceled February 2008 contract award, Boeing has seen Northrop-EADS’ pricing data. Thus, the senators want factors beyond price considered.
Shelby met with Carter and Monday and was happy to hear the nominee wants a best-value tanker competition that weights criteria beyond only cost, the senator said in a statement Monday night.
“We had a good meeting, and I’m going to talk to Secretary Gates and then decide what I want to do,” Shelby told reporters yesterday at the Capitol. A meeting with Gates had not been set as of last yesterday afternoon, the senator’s spokeswoman said.
Sessions told Defense Daily he has not scheduled a meeting with Carter and does not know just how he will proceed with his hold on Carter’s confirmation vote.
“I’m not comfortable now and I’m just worried about it,” Sessions said about the tanker competition.
He said he is concerned because “people within and without the Pentagon” have suggested the contest could be based on price alone. Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee last September that before halting the last tanker competition Pentagon officials considered, but decided against, altering the selection process to choose the lowest-cost proposal (Defense Daily, Sept. 24, 2008).
“All we want is a fair bid, and a fair bid has to be, I think, a bid that’s based on what is the best value for the taxpayer,” Sessions said. “That’s the process they used the time before, and they shouldn’t go on to something like just pure low bid. You have to consider the quality of the product as well as the price.”
The Pentagon last year pulled a February 2008 tanker contract award to Northrop-EADS after auditors sustained losing bidder Boeing’s protest. Gates then delayed a follow-on competition last September.
President Obama nominated Carter, a Harvard University professor, to replace John Young as the defense under secretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics.