Senate Proceeding on Oct 8th, 2009 :: 4:53:30 to 5:02:40
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4:53:10 to 4:53:31( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: quorum cal mr. shelby: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from alabama is mr. shelby: i ask that the quorum call the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. shelby: mr. president, i'd business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. shelby: mr. president, i rise today to speak about the

4:53:30 to 5:02:40( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Richard Shelby

4:53:32 to 4:53:53( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: recently restarted air for k.c.x. tanker competion prog mr. president, on february the 29th, 2008, after a lengthy competition, the u.s. air force announced that the t northrop grumman and the nabs was selected to deliver the best, most capable tanker to our

4:53:54 to 4:54:18( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: war fighters at a price of $3 billion less than their rival boeing's offer. mr. president, it was only after the government accounting office, g.a.o., sustained a mere 8 ou submitted by the losing team, boeing, that the award was overturned and the competion

4:54:22 to 4:54:44( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: was placed in limbo. mr. president, even after g.a.o.'s recommendation, there is still nothing to suggest that the kc-45 was not the best tanker solution. this is very important point to remember here. may have been nowhere did g.a.o. state that th kc-45 is not the best tanker

4:54:45 to 4:55:05( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: for our airmen. a year later, defense secretary robert gates terminated the award and canceled the entire tanker acquisition program. mr. president, secretary of de cancel the air force number-one acquisition priority outright

4:55:06 to 4:55:26( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: clearly placed politics and business interests over the interest of the war fighter. and while secretary gates may have characterized this decision as a -- quote -- "cooling-off period," it sent a clear message that only a boeing tanker will be acceptable. the defense acquisition polic

4:55:27 to 4:55:47( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: was unmistakable: no boeing, no tanker. mr. president, that is a fundamentally flawed policy that may please some members of congress from the states in which boeing would build the tankers but it failed to satisfy the critical need for the best new tankers forur war

4:55:48 to 4:56:08( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: fighters. in that case, politics obviously trump military necessity troop welfare. and now, mr. president, after the review of the september 24 draft r.f.p. that begins the new tanker competion, i again have

4:56:09 to 4:56:29( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: serious dhearnz fairne concerns that fairness and capabilit are being completely ignored. for a moment, let me elaborate. mr. president, as a result of the last protest, northrop grumman was compelled to submit its proprietary competion advertising sensitive -- competitive pricing data to the g.a.o. which, in turn, provided

4:56:30 to 4:56:50( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: that critical i boeing. mr. president, let me say again that, again, boeing now has all of northrop grumman's competitive pricing information and yet they're going to be competing again. boeing knows exactly how the northrop grumman team was to offer the best deal to the

4:56:51 to 4:57:11( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: department of defense during the last competion. boeing knows all of northrop grumman's pricing and bidding strategies. and now in a competion for a defense contract, nothing, as you know, mr. president, is more carefully protected than a company's pricing and bidding strategies.

4:57:12 to 4:57:36( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: let me remind my colleagues here that offered a clearly better plane at a price that was $3 billion less than boeing boeing knows how they did it. northrop grumman has repeatedly asked the department of defense to level the playing field by

4:57:37 to 4:57:57( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: providing them northrop grumman with boeing's prici information from the previous competition. to date, the pentagon, mr. president, has continually denied northrop grumman's request. the department of defense has sthaitd northrop grumman -- stated that northrop grumman's pricing and bidding strategies are not relevant issues in the current competion and that the

4:57:58 to 4:58:18( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: data is outdated. not relevant? i could not disagree more. it's intuitively obvious to anyone who is even vaguely familiar, mr. president, with the concept of competive government bidng that the department of defense from the

4:58:19 to 4:58:40( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: competitions toward boeing. northrop grumman is being game even begins. mr. president, this situation is inconceivable and must change. further, mr. president, after review of the draft r.f.p., it is becoming increasingly clear that this competition is not

4:58:41 to 4:59:03( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: structured around what we call a best value competition would ensure that our war ghter receives the best plane. rather, mr. president, it's structured around the lowest price technicality -- technically acceptable competition that does one thing and one thing only: it reduces the chances that our war

4:59:04 to 4:59:26( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: fighte perior plane on the market. mr. president, one would think that our air force top priority would be to ensure that our men and women in uniform have the best, most capable equipment. it seems to me that that is not the case.

4:59:27 to 4:59:47( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: a lowest-price, technically acceptable procurement process focuses heavily on cost and does not take into account aitional or advanced capabilities that may be available on the aircraft that will help us in the years to come. this means, mr. president, that price is -- is more important

4:59:48 to 5:00:11( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: than quality. that performance -- that performance itself is not a crit that add capabilities, technology that could help save the lives of our men and women in uniform and how the edge on the opposition is not a key factor in the drft draft r.f.p. mr. president, the fact that the

5:00:12 to 5:00:33( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: dravmendraft r.f.p. is structured so that cost is almost the only component considered in the competition makes the aforementioned pricing data even morrell vent. -- relevant. when compared with the nortsdz

5:00:34 to 5:00:55( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: grumman pricing data, important to have the thumb on the scale in favor of boeing much as was previously shown in the previous competition, boeing has a capable air northrup grumman's pricing data and a full understanding of the bidding strategy.

5:00:56 to 5:01:18( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: this is a holy grail of boeing that provides them with everything necessary to surely submit a lower-cost bid for their less capable aircraft. mr. president, if this matter should not be a concern, then there should be no issue whatsoever. whatever defense providing boeing's prior data to

5:01:19 to 5:01:40( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: boeing, again, has northrup grumman's data as they recompete. in order for this competion to be untainted and to be fair, to be at the level of openness and transparency that my colleagues and i were repeatedly assured would be the case, i believe it's imperative, mr. president, that northrup grumman be allowed

5:01:41 to 5:02:01( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: to obtain boeing's pricing data from the last pricing competition. mr. president, it makes no sense for our procurement process that has been continually hampered by scandal, delays and jail certain officials to begin the latest version of this

5:02:02 to 5:02:22( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: competition with such an absurdly uneven playing field. mr. president, as we go forward, it's my sincere hope that the safety of our war fighters and security of our nation will become the priority, as it has been in the past at this time, and the decisions will not be

5:02:23 to 5:02:40( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Shelby: based on political pressures that unfairly tilt competion. mr. president, unless the department of defense and the air force live up to their commitment of impartiality and transparency, i'm fearful that our war fighters will have to settle for second best. mr. president, apparently that