Senior officials in a background briefing Friday repeated the Pentagon’s intent to ensure the new KC-X competition will be crystal clear and emphasized that it would include, for the first time, an independent technical requirements review team. Its function will be to connect the decision through the evaluation to the requirements. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said on Thursday that the new team would assess “how we evaluated the proposals.” Of the more than 150 to 200 government personnel involved, a senior official confirmed Friday that one or two OSD people may have participated last time out, and he emphasized the “much more comprehensive” work by the requirements review team “is very different than what was done last time around.” He noted that it would essentially be the same for every new major source selection, saying, “This is the way we do business now.” (DOD transcript)
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.