Originally Posted by
typerated
Why did the USAF go Airbus in the first place?
Was it politics - with Boeing? Or something they fancied in the A-330?
Originally, they were just looking for a replacement for the KC-135 and specified capability and performance requirements based on that, and that's how the solicitation ran. When the proposals came in and they saw how much more load, cargo especially, the "KC-30" could handle they became enamored of that and decided that's the kind of plane they wanted. With a dramatic requirements change such as that, the normal and proper action would be to pull the existing RFP and issue a new solicitation with revised requirements and evaluation criteria and let the best plane win. AF didn't want to take the time to do that, so they just analyzed the two proposals not as they requested the companies to provide but as what they decided they wanted now. While there was a certain amount of credit given for exceeding the advertised specifications to a point, it wan't enough to overcome the price difference. In addition, in certain areas where the "KC-30" didn't meet the RFP requirements, they simply ignored those areas. Or, they changed the evaluation criteria to overcome certain things where the "KC-30" wasn't as capable without informing Boeing (or maybe even Airbus). I am
not saying Airbus was colluding with them on this; I don't know.
When the results were published, what had been done was pretty clear. Further, Boeing stated, "If you had advertised for
this rather than what you actually
did advertise, we would have bid a "KC-777", Boeing having had a broader product line. Because of all this, the GAO said there could have been a valid competition for what USAF had now decided they really wnated if they had honestly asked for it. Note they did
not say Boeing would have won that one. They simply said that as advertised and under USAF's own rules and selection report the award to Airbus couldn't be justified, and to be allowed to proceed further USAF had to explain how under its own rules the award went to the "KC-30", now designated the KC-45. USAF realized it couldn't defend is actions, so canceled the whole thing. The third competition's RFP was pretty much a straight KC-135 replacement spec, and Boeing had the advantage of a smaller, cheaper plane that met the requirements.