KC-X Snafu Prompts Personnel Actions

Two heads, so far, have rolled in the program office for the U.S. Air Force’s replacement tanker after two documents involved in the competition were each sent to the wrong company. Two unidentified members of the program office, but not the program manager, have been replaced. An investigation has ensured that the competition is still fair and that no “proposed pricing data” was involved, despite reports to the contrary, the service’s chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, said today. Each single-sheet report involved an efficiency assessment of one of the aircraft in a variety of refueling scenarios. “There was no offer or proposed pricing information on the CDs,” he says. “There was one page of non-proprietary data.” The data related to efficiency analyses of the two aircraft and how many of each would be required for a given refueling scenario, Schwartz says. “The key thing is to de-couple the notion that the inadvertent disclosure had anything to do with the timing on making source selection,” Schwartz says. The decision has slid out of 2010 and is now slated for the “early part of January,” he says. “It’s important that this source selection stand on its own and withstand scrutiny,” he adds. “In the last couple of weeks we have gone through both an internal and an independent review of what occurred,” Schwartz says. “Over the last 24 hr. or so, we’ve endeavored to [ensure] that we have a level playing field between the two offers [from Boeing and EADS] in respect to the information that was disclosed. “That information involved a single page of data, not proprietary information, that did not include any offer of proposed pricing,” Schwartz says. “Clearly this was a profound disappointment. As a result of the inquiries, those individuals responsible will be held accountable. Two [people] have been removed from the program as a result.”