Air Force tanker decision likely delayed by Senate hearing

A Senate hearing to probe the release of sensitive company data by the
Air Force likely will delay a KC-X aerial tanker award until March — or
later.

Defense industry sources told The Hill in recent weeks it was
increasingly clear an award in for a $35 billion, 179-plane competition
was unlikely to come until mid-February.

But now, there is mounting evidence that an award will not be possible
until March, or perhaps later, says Loren Thompson, a defense insider
who is the COO at the Lexington Institute, citing conversations with
executives.

The driving force behind this latest delay is a Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing slated for Jan. 27. At that session, the panel will
seek answers from Air Force officials about a mishap that saw the
service send data about EADS’s and Boeing’s tanker bids.

The service has said it was a cleric error. Both companies — and their
champions in Congress — have raised concerns. Air Force leaders have
publicly said they are worried the timing of the hearing could be
problematic, hinting a contract announcement is close.

“The Air Force has again delayed a key meeting with rival tanker teams
that was supposed to set the stage for submission of final offers from
each team,” Thompson said.

“The meeting had been expected in January, but key personnel involved in
running the competition have now been called away to prepare” for the
hearing, Thompson said.

Those meetings have now been pushed to early February, which also delays the service’s call for final bids.

“In other words, the Air Force will not even begin reviewing final offers until around Feb. 20 at the earliest,” Thompson said.

From that point, the service’s selection team will pick a winner,
setting off possibly weeks of reviews by Air Force and Pentagon brass.

“So announcement of an award is nearly impossible in February, and may
not occur even in March,” Thompson said. “Past experience suggests that
just getting all the key players in a room to ratify the decision could
take weeks, given schedule conflicts.”