Boeing Wins Protest of $35 Billion Air Force Contract

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WASHINGTON — Congressional investigators have upheld Boeing’s protest of a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp. and Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., and recommended that the service hold a new competition.

The Government Accountability Office said it found “a number of significant errors that could have affected the outcome of what was a close competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman.”

While the GAO decision is not binding, it puts tremendous pressure on the Air Force to reopen the contract and could help Boeing capture part or all of the award. It also gives ammunition to Boeing supporters in Congress who have been seeking to block funding for the deal or force a new competition.

“Boeing and the American people are the big winners in this decision,” Senator Cantwell, a Democrat of Washington, said. “The GAO criticisms were a scathing indictment of the Air Force’s process. The Air Force will have no choice but to rebid this project.”

The contract for 179 aerial refueling tankers is the first of three deals worth up to $100 billion to replace the Air Force’s entire tanker fleet over the next 30 years.


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