Boeing a d\u00e9cid\u00e9 hier de contester officiellement (aupr\u00e8s du GAO, le Government Accounting Office) la d\u00e9cision de l’USAF en faveur de Northrop Grumman\/EADS pour le programme de ravitailleurs en vol KC-45. On trouvera aujourd’hui<\/a> dans le Daily Report<\/em> de l’Air Force Association un r\u00e9sum\u00e9 de cette prise de position de Boeing, suivie d’un r\u00e9sum\u00e9 d’une riposte anticip\u00e9e de Northrop Grumman qui met en cause nombre d’informations parues aux USA depuis la d\u00e9cision de l’USAF. (Dans les deux cas, les textes cit\u00e9s renvoient aux divers documents pr\u00e9sentant la d\u00e9cision de Boeing et la position de Northrop Grumman).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tLa contre-attaque de Boeing, telle que pr\u00e9sent\u00e9e par le Daily Report<\/em>, est exceptionnellement dure, et pr\u00e9sent\u00e9e comme effectivement exceptionnelle par Boeing (\u00abJim McNerney, Boeing’s chairman, president, and CEO, said making the protest is an extraordinary step rarely taken by our company, and one we take very seriously.<\/em>\u00bb)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tExtrait du Daily Report<\/em>:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abBoeing has decided to protest the KC-X tanker award to rival Northrop Grumman, issuing a press release late Monday citing serious flaws in the process. The company came out swinging earlier Monday, saying in a two-page paper that it submitted a strong and extremely competitive proposal and remains concerned how USAF conducted the evaluation. Using data from the March 7 debrief from USAF, the company said its KC-767 tanker proposal scored exceptional and low risk in mission capability, met or exceeded all key performance parameters, and had significantly more strengths (discriminators) than rival Northrop Grumman’s KC-30 bid in this area. Boeing said its proposal risk was also rated low. But surprisingly, so, too, was Northrop Grumman’s despite what Boeing characterized as high risk associated with its evolving multi-country, multi-facility, multi-build approach compared to Boeing’s own integrated and lean build approach. Boeing’s past performance was rated satisfactory, as was Northrop’s, although European aircraft maker Airbus, the latter’s KC-30 partner, has no relevant tanker experience and having never delivered a tanker with a refueling boom.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tBoeing avait obtenu, gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 des pressions politiques, un raccourcissement du d\u00e9lai pour le debriefing<\/em> de l’USAF sur la raison du choix pour le programme KC-45 (le debriefing<\/em> pr\u00e9vu pour le 14 mars a \u00e9t\u00e9 avanc\u00e9 au 7 mars). La d\u00e9cision de Boeing a alors \u00e9t\u00e9 prise tr\u00e8s rapidement et sans gu\u00e8re d’h\u00e9sitation. Hier 10 mars<\/a> (la d\u00e9cision de Boeing fut prise dans la soir\u00e9e), le m\u00eame Daily Report<\/em> rapportait l’\u00e9tat d’esprit de Boeing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abAfter a multi-hour debriefing from the Air Force Friday, Boeing appears to be inching closer to filing a legal protest with the Government Accountability Office over how USAF evaluated the company’s KC-767 in the multi-billion-dollar KC-X tanker contest that rival Northrop Grumman won on Feb. 29. Mark McGraw, Boeing’s KC-767 program manager, said in the company’s March 7 release Boeing officials left the meeting with significant concerns about the Air Force’s evaluation process, including program requirements related to capabilities, cost, and risk, evaluation of the bids, and the ultimate decision. He said Boeing will now work through the weekend to come to a decision early next week on its next course of action. The company said it will give serious consideration to filing a protest, with McGraw noting that Boeing never takes lightly protesting decisions of its customers. Claims in the media that the Northrop’s KC-30 bid won over the KC-767 by a wide margin could not be more inaccurate, he said.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tBoeing a d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de ce battre \u00e0 mort sur ce dossier. S’il a pris cette d\u00e9cision, c’est qu’il sent et qu’il sait que le climat politique lui est enti\u00e8rement favorable. Tout y concourt effectivement et la bataille va devenir enti\u00e8rement politique, sinon politicienne.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t Nous sommes dans une ann\u00e9e \u00e9lectorale agit\u00e9e et disput\u00e9e. L’affaire a eu un \u00e9cho imm\u00e9diat<\/a>. Elle est d’ores et d\u00e9j\u00e0 un dossier du d\u00e9bat des pr\u00e9sidentielles, avec les deux candidats \u00e0 la d\u00e9signation d\u00e9mocrate (Obama et Clinton) ayant pris position contre la d\u00e9cision de l’USAF. Avec cette contre-attaque de Boeing, l’affaire des ravitailleurs KC-45 sera encore plus parmi les dossiers pol\u00e9miques de la campagne.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t Le principal responsable politique et pol\u00e9mique de la d\u00e9faite de Boeing est indirectement le candidat r\u00e9publicain John McCain, qui emp\u00eacha les premiers contrats en faveur de Boeing. M\u00eame si sa position \u00e0 l’\u00e9poque \u00e9tait fond\u00e9e, le climat \u00e9lectoral pour cette affaire est tr\u00e8s d\u00e9favorable \u00e0 McCain et les r\u00e9publicains sont sur la d\u00e9fensive. Certains, chez les r\u00e9publicains, vont jusqu’\u00e0 mettre directement en cause McCain, comme le montre cet extrait d’une analyse d’AP du 8 mars<\/a>, qui rend compte de ce climat politique: \u00abEven Boeing’s Republican supporters are critical of McCain. John McCain will be the nominee and I will support him, but if John McCain believes that Airbus or EADS is the company for our Air Force tanker program he’s flat-out wrong and I’ll tell him that to his face, said Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n