Air Force Tanker Bidding Process To Be Delayed Another Week

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The bidding process for the $35 billion contract to build new tanker aircraft for the Air Force will again be delayed by at least a week, according to a report from The Hill.

The Defense Department released new bidding guidelines and made a preliminary request for bids last month. It was scheduled to release a final request for proposals Aug. 26, but the announcement was delayed by a request from Boeing for more time to prepare its bid. Citing sources at the Pentagon, The Hill says the bidding process has been postponed for at least a week.

The contract, one of the biggest in U.S. history, is part of a series contracts totaling $100 billion that aims to replace 600 tanker aircraft over the next three decades.

Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) was chosen to build 179 KC-45A planes earler this year. But Boeing, which was originally awarded the contract in 2004, protested about "serious flaws in the process that we believe warrant appeal."

The Pentagon reopened the bidding process in July following a 69-page report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) saying the process had been filled with a number of errors. The department is now under pressure from both Congress, to award the contract by the end of the year, and Boeing, which has warned that it may withdraw from the bidding process if it is not given at least six months to prepare its new bid.