The Air Force’s top acquisition official, Sue Payton, told Rebecca Christie of Dow Jones Newswires that the service’s review of the operations and support costs for the combat search and rescue helicopter replacement program proposals would “do more than just clarify” its evaluation process. Payton said USAF planned to do a “standalone assessment” of each of the three original offerors—Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Sikorsky—revamped operations and support cost data. The Air Force recently received clarification from the Government Accountability Office about its review of protests submitted by Lockheed and Sikorsky and now feels confident that the only issue with its original award to Boeing was its operations and support cost analysis.
Three of four congressional committees with influence over defense policy have voted to change the official name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War—but final approval of the Pentagon rebrand is months away and not yet assured.