A congressional source supportive of Boeing's bid says there are "indications of bias" in the amended bid for the Pentagon's $35 billion tanker program.
The source points to language in the new RFP that "appears to justify bigger aircraft with greater fuel offload capability." The congressional source says that "current (real world) scenarios demonstrate that typical sorties involve offloading 65,000 to 70,000 pounds of fuel" and the KC-767 can hold about 205,000 pounds, compared to the Northrop Grumman plane's 250,000 pounds.
The source notes that amended RFP includes language that "there is additional value to the Government for the additional fuel offload amount above threshold."
I've got calls and emails out for more reaction and should hear some soon.
