Letter to Michael B. Donley, Secretary of United States Air Force

Letter

Recently Congressman Mike Pompeo (KS-04), U.S. House Representative of the "Air Capital of the World", issued a letter to United States Air Force (USAF) Secretary Michael Donley urging transparency throughout their investigation into the Afghanistan Light Air Support (LAS) contract involving Hawker Beechcraft. In the letter, Pompeo requests that the USAF halt action on the LAS contract until Congress is briefed on the results of their investigation. The USAF "set aside" this contract on February 28th, 2012 noting that the USAF had fallen short in its proceedings when it originally excluded Hawker Beechcraft from the competition and issued the contract for Brazilian-based Embraer aircraft. The investigation ensued immediately after the announcement was made. Kansas Senators Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran have also signed onto the letter.

Full text of the letter below:

March 29, 2012

The Honorable Michael B. Donley
Secretary
United States Air Force
1670 Air Force Pentagon
Washington, DC 20330-1670

Dear Mr. Secretary,

As you know, we have been closely following the Afghanistan Light Air Support (LAS) contract. While we appreciate your decision to set aside the contract and General Donald Hoffman's decision to launch a Commander Directed Investigation (CDI), we are once again concerned by non-transparent and unusual actions taken by your Department on this matter.

On March 27, 2012, we received notification that despite the ongoing CDI, the United States Air Force (USAF) is crafting an amendment to the LAS Request for Proposal. It is deeply concerning that the Air Force would move forward with a remedy to activities that you yourself characterized as "fall(ing) short" before it concludes the investigation and before it subsequently briefs to Congress. For the USAF to take corrective action prior to the release of the investigation's results would raises question about the credibility of the investigation. Given our respect for the integrity of General Hoffman and our interest in seeing this procurement move forward expeditiously, we ask you to reconsider your decision to amend the RFP before the investigation concludes and the debrief occurs.

Therefore, Mr. Secretary, we request that you continue to halt action on the LAS contract until Congress is briefed on the results of General Hoffman's investigation. We look forward to your timely reply.

Sincerely,

Pat Roberts Jerry Moran
United States Senator United States Senator

Mike Pompeo
Member of Congress

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