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Boeing Back in Running as Defense Secretary Reopens Air Contract |
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Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced today he is reopening competition for a fleet of U.S. Air Force refueling tankers. The decision comes three weeks after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) upheld Boeing’s protest of the Air Force’s decision to award the $35 billion contract to European-based EADS, maker of the Airbus, and Northrup.
Gates said he was putting his top acquisition official in charge of the competition. The GAO report cites significant errors by the Air Force that could have affected the outcome of what was a close competition between Boeing and EADS. The agency recommended that the contract be reopened.
A report compiled by International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) highlights the corrupt bid-awarding process involved and found the EADS fleet would cost U.S. taxpayers money and is likely less safe than the Boeing model. In fact, IFPTE, which represents 85,000 white-collar engineers and technical employees across the nation, determined the Boeing model could save taxpayers $90 billion over the program’s lifetime.
If Seattle-based Boeing had been awarded the air tanker deal, it would have supported at least 44,000 new and existing jobs in the United States, many of them family-sustaining union jobs, as well as more than 300 suppliers in 40 states. But under the EADs contract, only a few thousand lower-paying nonunion jobs would be created.
Defense expenditures are required to comply with federal Buy American Law provisions, which stipulate purchasing certain products from U.S. companies when possible. But the Bush administration has granted more waivers of the Buy American provisions than any administration in history.
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Thank goodness at least once in awhile the bureaucracy can consider that a mistake has been made. Let’s hope Boeing gets the contract after all.
I am glad that the Pentagon has overruled the efforts of John McCain to block Boeing from getting this contract. Doesn’t he have a lobbyist that on his campaign that works for Airbus?