Senior Department of Defense and Air Force officials announced the rollout of the KC-X Acquisition Program at a Pentagon briefing Sept. 24. Air Force leaders are seeking a replacement for the KC-135 Stratotankers that entered service between 1956 and 1964.
William J. Lynn, deputy secretary of defense,.termed the search to be a "best value" competition, not one based solely on cost. "We tried to play this straight down the middle," Mr. Lynn said. "You will also see that this strategy weighs both price and non-price factors. Thus, it is not a Low-Price Technically Acceptable approach. In acquisition parlance, it is a Best Value competition, with both price and non-price factors taken into account."
In addition to acquisition cost, the Air Force will consider factors such as efficiency, wartime performance (as determined in military simulations), and lifecycle costs (operations and maintenance).
Michael Donley, secretary of the Air Force, and Ashton B. Carter, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, also took part in the hour-long briefing.
Currently, there are 415 KC-135s in the Air Force inventory. The KC-X program calls for 179 new tankers over 15 years.
The first production KC-X delivery is planned for 2015, with a planned initial operating capability of 2017.
"As we integrate the KC-X into the fleet, we will begin evaluating our future tanker needs and begin work on the second phase, KC-Y," Secretary Donley said. A third phase is called KC-Z. The complete program has a potential value of 35 billion Dollars.
KC-X must be a highly capable and go-to-war-on-day-1-ready aircraft for the warfighter, Secretary Donley said. "We expect the KC-X to be far more capable than the KC-135."
The winning aircraft must meet 373 mandatory requirements, including:
· a permanent centerline drogue to refuel receptacle and probe-equipped aircraft;
· a receiver receptacle to allow it to refuel from KC-135s, KC-10s or another KC-Xs;
· an integrated Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures system, which the current tankers do not have; and
· improved communications; navigation and air traffic capabilities to allow it global airspace access.
Potential contractors and Congress both have 60 days to have a look at the new tanker draft request for proposals and offer comments and suggestions. After that, the Pentagon will release a final RFP, and contractors will have 60 days to respond. Then the Air Force gets a maximum of 120 days to evaluate the offers
. A decision is expected in June 2010.
Mr. Carter said the source selection strategy will be objective to ensure contractors bidding on KC-X know what it takes to win. He said it will also be transparent so when a winner is chosen everyone can understand why that bidder won.
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