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Shelby: Air Force to reopen tanker bidding |
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By Ian Swanson
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Posted: 07/09/08 01:08 PM [ET] |
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Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said Defense Secretary Robert Gates will announce today that the Air Force will reopen competition for a $40 billion tanker contract that set off a lobbying war between Boeing and the parent company of Airbus. Gates was set to make an announcement at a press conference this afternoon. Shelby described this as the “best of all options” in a statement posted on his web site. The decision follows a report from the Government Accountability Office that faulted the Air Force decision to award the contract to Northrop Grumman and EADS North America, the Airbus parent, instead of Boeing.“The plan the Department of Defense has come up with is an appropriate solution to remedy the minor procedural flaws the GAO found in the initial award,” Shelby said in the statement. He noted that of Boeing’s 111 complaints, “the GAO concurred with a mere seven.” Shelby’s home state would have benefited from the Air Force’s original decision, since Northrop and EADS North America planned to build the refueling tankers in Alabama.
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