The release of the request for proposal for the reopened KC-X tanker competition will not come until this week, if not later, reports The Hill, citing Pentagon sources. Pentagon acquisition officials had expected to issue the RFP last week. Boeing has thrown a wrench into Pentagon plans to complete the revised solicitation process readily and pick a winning tanker design by around the end of the year by requesting six months to properly prepare its new bid. Boeing is arguing that the draft revised solicitation issued in August points to a much different tanker than the company offered in the original KC-X contest. Northrop wants to see the process move forward unabated. It is confident that it will prevail again as it did in February in the original contest that was reopened after Boeing’s successful legal protest.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Sept. 5 to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War, a move that has heightened the ongoing debate over the White House’s legal authorities and the role of the military in the world and at home.
