The US Air Force analysis of rival bids for a 10-year contract for programmed depot maintenance of KC-135 tankers was flawed, the US Government Accountability Office has ruled. The decision sustains, in part, the protest lodged by losing bidder Pemco Aeroplex in September after the $1.1 billion contract was awarded to Boeing.
According to the GAO, Pemco's protest maintained the USAF's analysis was flawed in various aspects, including evaluation of bidders' past performance, mission capability and cost/price. "Our decision sustains the protest challenging the cost/price evaluation," says the investigation arm of Congress. The other protest allegations were denied.
The GAO says there is no record of any USAF analysis of "the realism of certain changes Boeing introduced in its final proposals, or the potential risk associated with those changes" as required by the solicitation. The Congressional watchdog recommends the USAF "perform and document the required realism and risk analysis".
The USAF says it will evaluate the GAO's ruling. Boeing says it remains confident that, once the analysis is documented, it "will again be determined to have offered the best value to the Air Force". Pemco says it believes strongly "a proper evaluation will establish [us] as the clear low-cost, low-risk provider of KC-135 PDM services".
© US Air Force
Pemco also alleged bias on the part of USAF procurement official Charles Riechers, the source-selection authority for the contract, who was found dead in mid-October apparently having committed suicide. As the investigation of his death is underway, the GAO says its decision "does not express any opinion regarding Pemco's bias allegations".
Dothan, Alabama-based Pemco, which becomes Alabama Aircraft Industries from 1 January, was teamed with Boeing on the previous KC-135 PDM contract, but was dropped when the US Air Force cut the number of tankers to be overhauled under the new contract. The company then bid for the work against Boeing's San Antonio, Texas-based Support Systems Center.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
