Boeing to Appeal $40B Contract

CEO claims 'serious flaws' in bidding
Posted Mar 10, 2008 8:09 PM CDT
Boeing to Appeal $40B Contract
Alabama Gov Bob Riley displays a graph showing the differences between KC-X Tanker Capabilities of the Northrop Grumman/EADS proposal and the Boeing proposal during a news conference on the newly awarded Air Force KC-45A tanker program Friday March 7, 2008, in Mobile, Ala. Riley said he knows Boeing...   (Associated Press)

Boeing vowed today to appeal a controversial $40 billion contract to build refueling tankers for the Air Force, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Our team has taken a very close look at the tanker decision and found serious flaws in the process," Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said. The Air Force awarded the contract to Northrop Grumman and Airbus, which ruffled US feathers by planning to build its tankers in France.

An Air Force spokeswoman termed the deal "fair and transparent," but McNerney said Boeing offered "the most capable, lowest-risk, lowest- most probable life cycle cost airplane" bid. Northrop called the bidding "rigorous and deliberative" and said it won for past performance, cost, and other factors. Lawmakers will have 100 days to review Boeing's protest. (More Boeing stories.)

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