Fortunately for Boeing, the Air Force did not heavily consider “past performance” in the selection—prioritizing “best overall value” in the contract.
The U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) contract was awarded to Boeing last week. Now, the autopsy of the Air Force’s decision will begin in earnest. Speaking to the crux of the decision to choose Boeing over Lockheed Martin for the sixth-generation fighter program, an Air Force spokesperson said that Boeing’s proposal “represents the best overall value to the government and is best suited to fulfil the Air Force’s requirements.”
Let’s take a closer look at the decision to better understand what “best overall value” may mean.
Boeing Badly Needed a Win
The Boeing brand, once vaunted for its quality workmanship and for taking an engineering-first approach to its corporate culture, has been in decline for decades. Critics have argued that the reason for this slide was a change in Boeing’s values; put simply, the aircraft manufacturer began to prioritize profits above safety, quality, and performance.
The defining moment of the Boeing shift towards a profit-first focus was undoubtedly the MCAS fiasco, in which two Boeing 737 MAX 8s crashed because of glitchy software known as MCAS. The scandal grew worse after it was learned that Boeing had known about the software flaws, but had initially downplayed their significance for investors and regulators. The incident left a sour taste in the public’s mouth, and left Boeing in a crisis of its own making.
The MCAS crashes were hardly an isolated incident. “Boeing has struggled on current Air Force programs for the KC-46 tanker, T-7 trainer, and Air Force One presidential transport, incurring years of delays and about $10 billion of losses,” Air & Spaces Forces Magazine reported. This is to say nothing of its struggles in commercial aviation—including a particularly humiliating incident last year in which a door cutout blew off a plane midflight, forcing an emergency landing.
The F-47 Had “Best Overall Value”
So, how did Boeing pull off the NGAD win? The contract is worth $20 billion up front, and will likely be worth hundreds of billions over the course of the NGAD’s tenure. This is a game-changing pull for a company that has left both commercial and military customers so severely disappointed over the last few decades.
Apparently, “past performance was not heavily weighted in the selection and counted for less than 10 percent of the scoring,” Air & Space Forces Magazine reported. That makes sense; if past performance had been a vital factor in the selection criteria, Boeing’s own track record may have been insurmountable. Ultimately, the choice came down to an “unnamed leader” on the Air Force’s evaluation team before the Air Force’s senior acquisition executive, Darlene J. Costello, rendered her approval.
The criteria for making the choice is unclear, aside from the “best value” explanation. Sometimes, “a ‘best overall value’ offeror may sometimes have quoted a higher price and was chosen because the source selection authority deemed the proposal more realistic, or if more value was added in the form of far better technical performance, lower-cost maintainability, or other factors,” Air & Space Forces Magazine surmised.
What drove the NGAD decision will likely emerge over time. In the meantime, expect Lockheed Martin to file a protest, which the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will have 100 days to review and determine whether the NGAD contract was awarded fairly. With billions of dollars at stake, Lockheed will undoubtedly take advantage of the GAO’s appeal process to determine whether Boeing indeed offered the best overall value.
About the Author: Harrison Kass
Harrison Kass is a senior defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
Image: Shutterstock / Michael Vi.
