Beechcraft announced that it will formally protest to
the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) the U.S.
Air Force’s (USAF) recent award of the Light Air Support
contract to its Brazilian competitor, Embraer. An
estimated 1,400 jobs in Kansas and other states are in
jeopardy as a result of the Air Force decision. “Following
our debrief with the Air Force earlier this week, we are
very perplexed by this decision,” said Bill Boisture,
CEO, Beechcraft. “Our belief that we have the best
aircraft was confirmed by the Air Force rating our
aircraft ‘exceptional’ and the fact that we are the
lower cost solution was confirmed by the USAF’s public
award announcement.”
Last year, an Air Force investigation found evidence of
bias toward Brazil-based Embraer and its Nevada-based
partner, Sierra Nevada (SNC), which led to the decision
to restart the competition. Although SNC later sued the
Air Force attempting to enforce the biased decision,
U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Christine O.C. Miller
wrote in her Nov. 1, 2012, opinion that based on the
investigation’s evidence of bias “the Air Force’s
decision to cancel the contract award to SNC and
re-solicit proposals was reasonable and rational and
should stand.”
“We simply don’t understand how the Air Force can
justify spending over 40 percent more over $125 million
more for what we consider to be less capable aircraft,”
Boisture said. “Given our experience of last year and
our continued strong concern that there are again
significant errors in the process and evaluation in this
competition, we are left with no recourse other than to
file a protest with the GAO. The Air Force needs to make
the right decision for the nation and our future
allies.”
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