Free Flow of Information Act of 2007--Motion to Proceed--Continued

Floor Speech

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION ACT OF 2007--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued -- (Senate - July 30, 2008)

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Mrs. MURRAY. I come to the floor this afternoon to join my colleague from Washington State and thank her for her comments and attention on this enormously important issue to our State and to our entire country.

As she outlined earlier this month, the Department of Defense took a rare step involving a major procurement contract. Defense Secretary Gates decided the competition to replace the next generation of aerial refueling tanker was so flawed that it should be rebid. He elevated that competition from the Air Force to his office, and he promised to address all of the findings raised last month in a Government Accountability Office ruling which determined that the contest was skewed in favor of the European company Airbus and against Boeing.

I was glad to hear the Defense Secretary had decided to take new bids and start over. But I come to the floor today to join with my colleague from Washington State because I too have very serious concerns about the Pentagon's plans for that new competition. Some Pentagon officials are already indicating to us they are considering using this opportunity to amend the request for proposals to give greater weight to a bigger plane.

As a result of those comments, defense experts and analysts are now beginning to predict that as a result of that, the contract will simply go back to Airbus. I brought this up in a meeting this week with Acting Air Force Secretary Donley, in which we discussed the history of this tanker contract, and we talked about the needs of the Air Force, the criticisms that have been lodged against the latest competition, and our concerns about the amendment to that RFP that would tip the scales to favor one bidder.

I am not saying the Pentagon cannot change the requests for proposals. However, I strongly believe that all those changes have to be rooted in the original requirements that were set out by the Air Force when it began the process of replacing the military's midsized tanker, the KC-135.

I recognize the Pentagon's procurement team is very serious about getting this competition right. They want to get the right tanker for our warfighters. They want to do it quickly. But I also want to make it clear that if the Pentagon moves forward with this effort, officials must take the GAO's findings seriously and ensure that this competition is as fair and transparent as it can be.

Last month the GAO upheld eight points of protest that were raised by Boeing, including that the Air Force changed directions midstream in the process about which criteria were more important. It did not give Boeing credit for providing a more capable plane, according to the Air Force's description of what it wanted. Yet it gave Airbus extra credit for offering amenities the Air Force did not even ask for. The GAO report said the Air Force deliberately and unreasonably increased Boeing's engineering costs. When that mistake was corrected, it was discovered that the Airbus tanker actually cost tens of millions of dollars more than Boeing.

The GAO found that the Air Force accepted Airbus's proposal even though Airbus could not meet two of their key contract requirements. They could not meet the contract requirement, Airbus could not, and refused to commit to providing long-term maintenance as was specified directly in the RFP, even after the Air Force repeatedly asked them for it.

Secondly, the Air Force could not prove that Airbus could refuel all of the military's aircraft according to procedure. This goes to show how there were major flaws that occurred throughout that process.

So as it continues with this competition now, the Department of Defense must make sure there is no reason to question its motives. If they truly plan to make this a fair contest, Secretary Gates has to ensure that before the selection team reopens this competition, it goes back and addresses each one of those GAO findings. It has to ensure that both companies are on the same footing and it has to prove the competition is as transparent as possible. Our refueling tankers are the backbone of our global military strength. They are stationed around the world today and they service planes from every branch of our Armed Forces. This is a contract that is ultimately worth more than $100 billion. We are going to have these planes for decades. We cannot afford to make mistakes.

As I said at the beginning of my remarks, I recognize that Secretary Gates is very serious about getting this competition right. At the end of the
day, this is about getting the right equipment for our airmen and airwomen who are put in harm's way for our security every day. Our servicemembers deserve a plane that will enable them to do their job and return home safely.

Our taxpayers deserve to have confidence that the errors are going to be fixed in this contract as the GAO outlined. So I come to the floor today to say, as the Pentagon moves forward with this effort over the next several weeks, I strongly urge our officials to take those GAO findings seriously and ensure this competition is as fair and transparent as it can be.

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