Aug 19, 2010



By Amy Butler, Robert Wall

WASHINGTON and LONDON — The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is granting the U.S. Air Force an expedited decision on a protest filed by would-be KC-X competitor U.S. Aerospace earlier this month.

The outcome of the protest will now be decided in 65 days, rather than the standard 100 days. This results in a decision expected by Oct. 6 — well in advance of the Air Force’s scheduled Nov. 12 downselect. The earlier protest schedule called for an outcome only days before the downselect between Boeing, offering a modified 767, and EADS, offering an A330 variant.

A few days into the protest, the Air Force requested the use of “express option procedures,” which are allowable under GAO regulations, says Ralph White, GAO managing associate general counsel for procurement law. Air Force officials have declined to answer media questions about the protest despite repeated requests.

Granting the request is the sole responsibility, and under the sole purview, of GAO, the congressional agency that referees bid disputes, according to White. Unlike Boeing’s protest of a 2008 KC-X award to Northrop Grumman/EADS, which included thousands of pages of documents to review, the U.S. Aerospace protest is “much more straightforward,” he says. The Boeing protest led to the Air Force overturning the Northrop contract award, triggering the current competition.

U.S. Aerospace “would have preferred not to use the express option,” White says, but he suggests the key protest issue can likely be resolved quickly.

The company claims that the Air Force intentionally obstructed its messenger from delivering the U.S. Aerospace/Antonov An70-based bid on time by 2 p.m. July 9. A gate guard delayed the messenger and provided bad directions to the building where the bids were expected, the company’s protest claims. The Air Force stamped it received at 2:05 p.m. and subsequently disqualified the company from competing due to tardiness (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 5).

The expedited schedule calls for the Air Force to file its response to the protest claims within 20 days, rather than 30 days, of GAO accepting the case for review. That new date is Aug. 26, White says. U.S. Aerospace now has five days, not 10, to provide its final response. White says if the company appeals for more days to respond, it is likely to be granted a short reprieve.

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