Takes Flight

29 Apr 2008
Boeing CEO: "We're Going To Avoid Any Needless Sharp Elbows"
Bloomberg and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer are reporting that Boeing's CEO says that from now on, his company will avoid throwing "sharp elbows" as it conducts its protest of Northrop Grumman's win of an Air Force contract to build America's next generation of aerial refueling tankers.

Bloomberg, covering Boeing's annual meeting in Chicago, quotes James McNerney as saying, "we're going to avoid any needless sharp elbows" while defending his company's right to protest the contract. Northrop Grumman won the contract February 29 after the Air Force determined that Northrop Grumman's bid was superior to Boeing's on 4 of 5 major evaluation criteria.

McNerney's comments came the same day that respected defense analyst Loren Thompson wrote that Boeing's tactics have irritated Air Force officials. Boeing's supporters have also made a number of baseless charges, including that the contract was awarded to a foreign company — Northrop Grumman is based in Los Angeles — and that jobs and national security are being exported.

In fact, the contract supports 48,000 American jobs, split between Northrop Grumman and 230 suppliers in 49 states. No national security is being sent overseas.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that Thompson said that Air Force leaders believe Boeing "is willfully misstating the facts in a bid to obscure the inferior performance of the plane it proposed."

McNerney defends Boeing's right to protest. But the P-I reports the protest likely is futile, citing Thompson's knowledge of an Air Force analysis that concludes none of the 200-plus items in Boeing's process are likely to lead the Government Accountability Office to decide that the Air Force improperly conducted the bidding process.

According to Bloomberg, McNerney said that a discussion last week at the Pentagon between the Air Force, Boeing and Northrop Grumman "was about reminding us that we're all going to be friends when this is over. We're all dependent on each other.''

Bloomberg notes that Mark McGraw, the official who heads Boeing's tanker program, alleged in an April 4 National Public Radio interview that the Air Force "manipulated" the contract to favor Northrop Grumman.

Bloomberg also notes that "Boeing lost its first shot at the contract in 2003 after an ethical scandal sent a company executive and (an) Air Force official to jail."

Read the entire Bloomberg story

Read the entire Seattle Post-Intelligencer story

< Back to index