Rep. Courtney Applauds Responsible Decision by Secretary Gates to Suspend New Air Force Tanker RFP

Press Release

As one of the most outspoken tanker deal critics, Congressman Joe Courtney is pleased to issue the following statement in response to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates's decision to defer the new KC-X Air Force tanker Request for Proposal to the next President.

"Secretary Gates has made exactly the right call in deciding not to rush one of our military's most critical procurement priorities. With the way this most important program has been handled, the hard truth is that there were few good options left. Decisions relating to the future of our nation's security and military readiness cannot be rushed and I applaud the Secretary for this announcement."

"At a cost of tens of billions of dollars to American taxpayers, the Air Force and Department of Defense must get their priorities straight. I had strongly urged Secretary Gates directly to give this process more time, and I am pleased that he has yielded to my request and those of other Members of Congress."

"Like so many other critical decisions, the responsibility to get this right will fall on the next president. I look forward to working with the next administration to finally ensure that we have a fair competition that gives us all the confidence that the right tanker for our Air Force is ultimately chosen."

Click here to download Congressman Courtney's August letter to Secretary Gates seeking more time for the RFP process [http://courtney.house.gov/UploadedFiles/tanker_recommendations.pdf].

Congressman Courtney is Connecticut's only member of the House Armed Services Committee, which has oversight over Department of Defense procurement programs like the KC-X tanker replacement. As a member of that committee, Representative Courtney has been a strong critic of the Defense Department's handling of the tanker contract and its plans for an accelerated 45-day bidding process to address the serious concerns raised by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

On June 27, 2008, Courtney joined over 60 bipartisan members of Congress in sending a letter to the Air Force urging the service to take into account all of the GAO findings and re-open a fair competition between the two companies.

Click here to download the bipartisan letter[http://courtney.house.gov/UploadedFiles/tanker_recommendations.pdf].

In a July 10, 2008 hearing before the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Courtney questioned Undersecretary of Defense John Young, who had been tasked with overseeing the re-bid process for the KC-X tanker program, on how the process announced by Secretary Gates earlier that week will move ahead in a fair manner.

Congressman Courtney told him that he was deeply concerned that the new review may be set up as a rubber-stamp of the original flawed selection process or, as he put it in baseball terms during the hearing, that we will just have "the same umpire making the same call."

Click here to watch Congressman Courtney exchange with Undersecretary Young [http://courtney.house.gov/UploadedFiles/courtney_tanker_subcom_hearing.wmv].

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