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A Mission to Rebuild Reputations
Darleen Druyun, former top procurement official for the Air Force, went to prison for misconduct in deals with Boeing.
(AP)
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Another, smaller contract that arose from the Druyun controversy was settled in a way that illustrates the Air Force's new approach to procurement.
When Druyun admitted in 2004 that she favored Boeing in awarding it a deal worth up to $4 billion, with options, to design, build and install new electronics kits for Lockheed Martin C-130 cargo planes, Lockheed, L-3 Communications and BAE Systems protested. The GAO sustained their protests. The Air Force said it would be too costly to reopen the entire contract, but it agreed to hold a full and open competition for production and installation of the kits.
The Air Force is planning to award a sole-source contract to Boeing to build a small fraction of the 222 kits it needs. Boeing, two Air Force depots, and two yet-to-be-named commercial competitors will install those kits on C-130 aircraft to ensure the Boeing design is accurate, according to the service.
It is a move Boeing's competitors and watchdog groups say shows that the Air Force is likely to choose Boeing to produce the remaining kits, even though Boeing is nearly $1 billion over budget and 18 months late on the design and development part of the deal. An Air Force official denies the allegations, saying there will be a full and open competition to build the remaining kits and install them on C-130 aircraft.
New Set of Allegations
On another deal, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has also questioned the Air Force's procurement process. He led the effort to shelve the tanker deal and later praised Boeing's internal changes and its decision to not write off its $615 million settlement two years ago, saying it "conveys to me how serious the company is to truly reforming and starting fresh."
But last fall McCain asked the Pentagon's inspector general to investigate whether the Air Force had improper communication with Boeing about a multibillion-dollar purchase of its C-17 transport planes. The president didn't support buying more planes in his budget request to Congress and the Pentagon said it neither needed nor could afford the planes.
In a December letter, McCain said he had "uncovered compelling evidence of possible wrongdoing in the Air Force's interaction with the contractor on the C17 matter." McCain also said that "in its rank aggressiveness, the evidence I found . . . is not unlike some of what I observed in the Boeing tanker lease scandal."
Boeing and the Air Force deny the allegations. Boeing says it decided independently of any knowledge from the Air Force to keep its C-17 line open in case the service decides to fund the planes. Rick Sanford, a Boeing spokesman, said there has "absolutely not" been any ethical breaches between the service and Boeing.
