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Northrop, EADS will not bid for US tanker contract
Topic Started: Mar 9 2010, 02:07 AM (152 Views)
Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jPIehETgPH2F64N-h1jNlgGNXQoA

Quote:
 
This so-called competition was not structured to produce the best outcome for our men and women in uniform; it was structured to produce the best outcome for Boeing


Sounds like sleaze in the DoD.

I can understand if a country wants to spend its defense budget on domestic companies, but then they should make this explicit rather than pretending that there is a real competition.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Klaus, let me see if I can reword your post to more effectively provoke response here ...

Quote:
 
Sounds like sleaze in Obama's DoD.

I can understand if a country Obama wants to spend its the country's defense budget on domestic companies to pander for votes, but then they should make this explicit rather than pretending that he should try harder to make it look like there is a real competition.
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Well, I guess that didn't work, Ax.
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Sounds to me like there was something fishy about the initial bid contest in Northrop's and EADS favor:

Quote:
 
The Northrop-EADS team had won the contract in February 2008, but the deal was canceled after Boeing successfully appealed the decision to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress


The quote that Klaus posted loses some credibility, as the Congressman that made the quote lost 300 jobs for his constituency, and failed to bring home the bacon.

Were there shenanigans involved (I love that word)? Possibly, but the article itself showed that Boeing's proposal was going to cost less money and less fuel.

It seems to me that it's likely that there was some dishonesty involved, but it was likely on Northrop's part initially. They had a senators support and won the bid, only to have the irregularities come to light in 2008, and have the original bids overturned, and now Boeing came in with a product that Northrop/EADS can't compete with. So they pull out and make a big stink.

Sour grapes, IOW.

Edited by Luke's Dad, Mar 10 2010, 06:14 AM.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
I guess neither you nor I can really judge what was going on, but if you believe the news then in fact this seems to be an arranged deal in favor of Boeing. Another indicator is that in all similar previous competitions between Boeing and Northrop/EADS, the tanker from the latter has been considered superior.

I would consider it almost a surprise if, given the protectionist history of the US, there wouldn't be loud voices demanding that defense money ought to be spend domestically (the fact that the US exports much more weapons to the EU than the other way around notwithstanding).
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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Piano*Dad
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Bull-Carp
If you believe what news? That article contains nothing by way of evidence that the bid is rigged. It does contain self-serving snippets from EADS as well as the sour grapes quote from a particular Congress-critter.

Defense department contracting is a wasteful mind-boggling boondoggle (try saying that fast!). I am prepared to accept all sorts of information. But the evidence so far does not persuade me that this outcome is particularly rigged.
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