Wednesday October 28, 02:42 PM
UPDATE 1-Northrop won't rule out boycott of tanker rematch
WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Northrop Grumman Corp (NYSE: NOC - news) is leaving open the possibility of boycotting the Pentagon's multi-billion-dollar aerial tanker recompetition, a company executive said on Wednesday.
If Northrop dropped out of the bidding to replace the U.S. Air Force's aging tanker fleet, it would leave rival Boeing Co (NYSE: BA - news) as the sole bidder.
Asked about a possible boycott, Mitch Waldman, a Northrop vice president, told reporters: 'We really need to see what the final request for proposals looks like before we make that determination.' The Pentagon is expected to release the final bidding terms in November (Frankfurt: A0Z24E - news) , and aims to award the contract by June.
Waldman and other company executives, speaking at a news conference, also said that Northrop might take legal action over its allegation that the U.S. government improperly gave rival Boeing sensitive bidding price information.
Northrop and its partner, Airbus (Paris: NL0000235190 - news) parent EADS (EAD.NX - news) , say the Air Force gave pricing data to Boeing after the last competition, giving Boeing an unfair advantage this time around -- something the Pentagon denies.
Northrop's team won the last competition in February 2008, a deal valued at up to $35 billion; but the Pentagon canceled it after government auditors upheld a Boeing protest. The current contest is the Pentagon's third try in eight years to replace its KC-135 tankers, which average more than 50 years old.
(Reporting by Jim Wolf, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
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