The Pentagon is not the Welfare Department
Mar 2, 2008 Military, Political
The Pentagon recently awarded a contract for air tankers, the huge aircraft that conduct in-flight refuel operations. The award went to a group with French connections and the airframe is the French Airbus. The group, Northrop Grumman/EADS, beat out Boeing for the contract. There are several lawmakers who are upset with the Pentagon’s decision to select the EADS group over Boeing.
I don’t know the particulars of the deal and I am not familiar with the company that makes the Airbus. That seems to be a decent airframe and considering that Boeing was opting to use an airframe that was older and being retired, the EADS groups seems a sensible choice. If Boeing wins the contract and uses an older airframe that no one else uses, then there is a lot of potential for abuse in the supply of parts. There might also be a problem getting parts at a reasonable cost, or at all.
Several Republicans have indicated that they want to be debriefed on the selection and are upset Boeing did not win.
“We should have an American tanker built by an American company with American workers,” said Republican Representative Todd Tiahrt.
“I cannot believe we would create French jobs in place of Kansas jobs.”
Boeing, the second leading US defense contractor after Lockheed Martin, had been considered the heavy favorite for the contract and according to its website is the largest employer in Kansas.
Perhaps Representative Tiahrt (from Kansas) should look at the contract. Part of the aircraft will be assembled in Alabama and will create 300 jobs there and Northrop claims that 25,000 jobs will be created in the US. However, even if the airplane was going to be completely built in France, why should that matter. The goal of the defense department is to procure the best equipment at the best price from all available sources. The Pentagon is not a social welfare program where contracts are awarded on the basis of how many jobs Americans will be provided. My advice to these companies and these politicians who are upset about this is start building good products at a reasonable cost and you will win the contracts. The DOD should not be required to buy from companies that have screwed over the taxpayer before or have built inferior products. In other words, Todd, the DOD is not in the business of “creating” jobs.
Boeing paid a $615 million settlement to the government in 2003 for procurement fraud. Additionally, their choice of airframes means the government would be the sole consumer of parts because the airframe will retire. A system like this is wide open for corruption and price overruns. Even without corruption, if one company is the only one making parts that the government [contractor] needs and the government is the only that needs them, this company can really have an impact on the price which in turn affects maintenance costs.
I know that these members of Congress like to see contract awarded to companies in their districts so that their constituents get jobs and they can crow about creating them. However, when taxpayer money is being used then the contracting office has an obligation to be fiscally responsible and ensure that contracts are awarded to the company that can provide the best service at the best cost. Sometimes it costs more for quality so price should never be the sole factor however, how many jobs it brings to America should not play into the equation unless one of our enemies is the only other entity that can provide what we need.
I will say it once again. If American companies want to win contracts here in America then they need to build quality products at competitive prices. If they have to build in costs to cover union workers, benefits and all kinds of other overhead then they are going to lose. This is particularly true about a company like Boeing that decided to use an airframe that is near the END of its useful life rather than thinking about the future.
Did Boeing think they had this one in the bag because of some shady back room discussions? It does not matter because the Pentagon selected the company they thought best to build the tankers. Once the politicians can figure out that the Department of Defense is not a social welfare program and that it is not designed to give jobs to Americans then perhaps things will start to run more efficiently. One thing is certain, members of Congress should keep their noses out of the procurement process. There are skilled contract people who deal with this so let them do their jobs. They are, after all, more disinterested than a Congressman trying to get reelected.
Besides, if there are people out there who think the DOD is in the business of creating jobs, you are in luck. The DOD has a great job program. All it takes is a visit to your local military recruiter.
Sources:
Breitbart
The Weekly Standard
