Florida congressman suggests splitting tanker contract

BY BILLY HOUSE AND AMY DOMINELLO
Media General News Service
Published: May 12, 2008

WASHINGTON – An influential member of Congress from Florida has asked the Air Force to consider splitting its controversial $35 billion contract for new refueling tankers in two.

“We’ve asked the Air Force for its opinion,” said Rep. C.W. Bill Young, the ranking Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Committee.

The Solomonic request from Young comes amid a “Buy American” backlash in Congress and elsewhere over the Air Force’s awarding of the contract in February, handing a foreign company a substantial role in the huge military project.

The winner was a consortium that includes Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., North America, a subsidiary of the Franco-German conglomerate and parent company of Airbus.

Chicago-based Boeing Co. was the competing bidder to replace 179 tankers thatrefuel military aircraft in mid-flight. The contract could grow to $100 billion if the Air Force places additional orders.

Boeing says the contract was awarded improperly and has asked the Government Accountability Office to look into whether the bidding process was fair. Boeing has mounted a major campaign to sway support, saying the project will cost American jobs and put national security at risk.

The Air Force wants the GAO to deny Boeing’s protest.

But congressional critics are threatening to kill the deal if any evidence is found that Boeing was treated unfairly. House and Senate committees that set the budgets for the Defense Department and Air Force say they can turn off the funding spigot for the program.

Young’s office said talks with the Air Force haven’t progressed very far yet. But both Northrop and Boeing said Young’s idea to divide the contract between them is not tenable.

Randy Belote, a spokesman for Northrop, said the Air Force considered choosing two companies to build the tankers early on, but quickly realized the tankers needed to be replaced as soon as possible.

“A split buy would only serve to slow down the process,” he said.

Bill Barksdale, a spokesman for Boeing, said the company has been and continues to be opposed to splitting the contract.

“It would really cost a lot more to put two contracts out there,” he said. “… It doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Air Force or the taxpayer.”

Members of Alabama’s congressional delegation are also opposed to idea. Northrop will assemble the tanker at a plant in Mobile’s Brookley Field, creating 2,000 jobs there.

“I don’t think it should be split now just for political reasons,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. “That would politicize the objective, fair criteria the Air Force set up.”

Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., said the idea is yet another attempt to derail the project.

“I think that this is the latest of a series of attempts to try to slow this process down and to try to ultimately keep the Air Force from getting the plane they need,” he said.

Parts of the plane will be made overseas. Northrop has said 60 percent of the tanker will be American-made, through Northrop’s U.S. suppliers in Florida, Alabama, and 47 others states.

In all, it says 230 U.S. companies as many as 48,000 U.S. jobs will be involved in the work.

For instance, the new tankers, which may replace some of the 16 aging KC-135 tankers now flown out of MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, could mean $500 million a year for Florida companies. That includes four subcontractors in the Tampa Bay area. In all, it could create up to 2,000 new jobs in Florida.

How splitting the contract between two builders – if that is possible—might impact those jobs is uncertain.

Much of Boeing’s work on the tanker would have occurred in Kansas and Washington. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan., said splitting the contract would be “a political solution.”

But Tiahrt said it doesn’t address the underlying concerns, including the fact that the Northrop tanker does not fit the needs of the Air Force.

Bonner said Boeing’s supporters will continue to float new ways to derail the contract.

“They’ve gone now from protesting on the merits to basically throwing out things that I think are outlandish,” Bonner said.

With controversy over the contract intensifying, Young said he and Democrat Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania have approached Air Force officials about their views on splitting the contract in two.

Their request of the Air Force was not made in writing. But Young said, “There’s been some conversations and we have suggested that they consider that.”

Murtha is the chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Committee. He is among lawmakers who have threatened to cut off funding for the contract if evidence is found Boeing was treated unfairly. The issue is expected to come up as Congress mulls over funding requests.

Young said the Air Force isn’t expected to answer, or even talk openly about the idea, until after the GAO issues its decision on Boeing’s protest by June 19.
Northrop’s Belote stressed the Air Force vigorously vetted the contract.

“We won, so what we’re suggesting is we need to get on with it,” Belote said.

Contact Billy House at (202) 662-7673 or

Contact Amy Dominello at (202) 662-7671 or