John Young, the Pentagon’s top acquisition official, warned Congress on Friday not to interfere with the US Air Force’s decision to buy new tankers from the EADS/Northrop Grumman team.

Mr Young told reporters that threats by some Congress members –mostly from the states of Washington and Kansas where Boeing plants are located to cancelthe contract funding would create “dangerous precedents”. The official added that the selection by the Air Force was “valid” and should not be set aside “on a political basis”. He reaffirmed that EADS and Northrop Grumman made the most advantageous proposal for “the taxpayer and war fighter” both in terms of cost and capability. Hence, Mr Young pointed out, any move by Congress to eliminate funds for the tankers would mean that “the choice will not be connected in any way to quality of the source selection. It will be connected to a set of political issues, which are largely what is being debated about the tanker”. He also claimed that Boeing, who filed a complaint with the GAO, had no basis for protesting. The whole process was “a very-well run source selection, by the books and in accordance with the law”. He concluded, “We had an excellent competition, two great proposals, and one proposal clearly delivered better value and better capability”. Meanwhile, several Federal trade associations have called on Congress to reverse the Pentagon’s decision. Seattle Post Intelligencer (18 & 19/04)