Looks like the Department of Defense has put off the new tanker decision for the next administration. So, no decision until sometime in 2009. Delays, delays, delays. You can read more about it here.

From what I've read, the GAO reports favortism and irregularities in the bidding . Imagine that. A government agency(USAF) handling things badly. Hopefully with the next administration it will get straightened out. As Ray had said awhile ago, It would actually be smart to have a number of both.

Troy

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31 Bravo :
I think that the next time around Boeing is going to end up being the winning bidder, but they should consider the 777 and 767-400 instead of the 200 to match the A330's fuel capacity.

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You Think.........:dontgetit}

Latest report is that it could take as long as four years for the decision to be made now, its actually becoming embarrasing, the following was posted on Reuters


New US tanker deal could be up to 4 years away
Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:04pm EDT


By Andrea Shalal-Esa
WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Norton
Schwartz said a new contract for aerial refueling aircraft could be awarded
within 8 to 12 months, but depending on how the new administration decides
to proceed, it could up to 36 to 48 months.
The Pentagon last week canceled a $35 billion revamped competition, which
pits Boeing Co against a team of Northrop Grumman Corp paired with Europe's
EADS , after concluding it could not pick a winner by January.
Northrop and EADS won the competition in February, but the Pentagon decided
to redo the competition after the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
said Boeing might have won if not for significant errors in the Air Force's
handling of the process.
Revised terms for the competition were announced in August, but Boeing said
those changes basically disqualified the 767 tanker variant it had bid, and
threatened to quit the competition unless it got six months to prepare a new
bid.
Schwartz told reporters at the annual Air Force Association meeting on
Monday that Air Force officials were preparing a wide range of options for
the next administration -- ranging from a "cold, cold start," with a new
analysis of requirements, to a modification of the existing request for
proposals.
He said his projections for awarding of a new contract would begin once the
administration decided how to proceed.
Acting Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said the Air Force supported last
week's decision by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to cancel the competition
for now, but the Air Force and Pentagon would ultimately have to "circle
back."
"There was a lot of heat and smoke in this process. I don't think it was all
healthy," Donley told reporters.
He said he was in the process of scheduling a meeting with Northrop to
discuss termination of its existing contract for work on 179 tankers, but
declined to give any details on the size of the expected termination fee.
In a speech to the Air Force booster group, Donley said "seven years of
history on this program have culminated in a missed opportunity."
"My personal view is that this experience has not been a healthy one for the
Air Force or (the Department of Defense), or for the contractors, or the
Congress," Donley said in his speech. "We're going to need a new approach
going forward."
Donley said Air Force officials would meet with the GAO to discuss ways to
better document the decision-making process to avert protests in the future.
In addition, the Air Force planned its own internal review of what went
wrong in the tanker competition, and there would be an independent
assessment by a federally funded think tank.
Schwartz said it might be possible to remove some of the complexity from the
tanker competition, which involved over 800 criteria, some of which were
"inherently judgmental."
Regardless of what approach the next administration took, Schwartz said it
was important to reform the overall acquisition system so that the military
requirements remained the "prime consideration." Asked if requirements
should trump concerns about industrial policy or trade subsidies -- some
issues raised in the tanker competition -- Schwartz said yes.
Donley said there had been much scrutiny of another controversial
competition, the $15 billion contest for new search and rescue helicopters
which was redone after the GAO upheld two protests, which is nearing
contract award now.
Boeing won the first round of the competition, but Lockheed Martin Corp
(LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit
of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz),
won their separate protests and hope to prevail this time around.
"My immediate focus with acquisition community is getting lessons learned
out of the tanker process, so we make sure we can get though any possible
protest that comes after this," Donley said.
He said expected a decision in the helicopter competition within a few
months, before the Bush administration leaves office in January. (Reporting
by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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