Over the past year, we’ve shared the details of our loss of a bid through the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to supply the Veterans Administration with assistive listening devices. Reasons cited for losing the bid included technical errors in communication and subjective data collection on our product that could not be replicated in a lab. Had the bid been awarded to TV Ears, it could have saved taxpayer’s $3 million and allowed Americans to keep their jobs. Instead, the bid went to a product manufactured in China at a much higher cost to the American taxpayer. (Click here to read more.)

We shared our story because it didn’t seem right. Something didn’t add up. It turns out we’re not alone. Read below to learn the story of Wichita Hawker Beechcraft Corp., a story which uncannily parallels what happened to TV Ears. We the People cannot permit our government to hand out lucrative contracts to foreign entities when there are capable, hardworking, businesses and families in the United States that need to, and deserve to, be supported. Please help us spread the word and bring light to these stories by sharing this post.

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The Wichita Eagle: Hawker Beechcraft files suit over Air Force contract

Wichita Hawker Beechcraft Corp. filed suit Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims questioning the Air Force’s decision to exclude its AT-6 aircraft from a contract potentially worth nearly $1 billion. The action comes after the company was notified that the Government Accountability Office had dismissed its initial protest. “We think we were wrongfully excluded from the competition,” Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture said Tuesday. “We don’t understand the basis for the exclusion, and frankly, we think we’ve got the best airplane. “So we’re going to take every avenue available to us to make sure our product is fully evaluated and recognized for what it is. … There are several issues here that just, frankly, don’t make sense.”

For the past year, Hawker Beechcraft has competed against Brazil-based Embraer for a contract to supply 35 aircraft to the Air Force. That number could grow to 55 and be worth up to $950?million. Deliveries were scheduled to begin in 2013.

The AT-6, adapted from the company’s T-6 trainer, was designed for counterinsurgency, close air support, armed overwatch and homeland security. The company has said that winning the contract would keep its T-6 production line running after 2015, when final deliveries of the trainers to the U.S. Navy are scheduled to take place.

If Hawker Beechcraft wins the contract, it would preserve 1,400 U.S. jobs at 181 companies in 39 states, the company said. That includes 800 at Hawker Beechcraft, Boisture said.

In November, the Air Force informed Hawker Beechcraft that it had been excluded from the competition in what is called a “pre-award exclusion.” The company has been trying to learn the reason for the action.

The company filed an inquiry with the GAO for a review of the exclusion and a protest. In dismissing Hawker Beechcraft’s protest,
the Air Force said the company missed a three-day deadline to file a request for a debriefing and a 10-day deadline to file a protest, the GAO’s report said.

“That’s what the Air Force is alleging,” Boisture said. “There comes a point, though, where the facts of the matter would seem to be more important than the procedural correctness.”

A Pentagon spokesman said, “Hawker Beech has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office. Because of this protest, we cannot comment on a matter pending under litigation.”

Hawker’s exclusion leaves Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano as the lone contender. Embraer has teamed with Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. and has said it would build the turboprop in Jacksonville, Fla., should it win the contract.

In its report, the GAO said the Air Force found Hawker Beechcraft’s bid “technically unacceptable,” one that would result in an “unacceptable mission capability risk.” It did not give more detail. That wording was in the Air Force’s letter to Hawker Beechcraft notifying the company that it had been excluded from the competition, Boisture said.

Boisture said the AT-6 has been evaluated and proven capable through a multi-year program led by the Air National Guard. Hawker Beechcraft and its partners have worked with the Air Force for two years to develop parameters for the light air support competition and invested more than $100?million preparing to meet the Air Force’s requirements, he said.

To continue reading this story, which was published on December 27, 2011 by The Wichita Eagle, please click on the following link:

The Wichita Eagle: “Hawker Beechcraft files suit over Air Force contract“

The follow-up to this story is that the government has since halted its contract with Hawker Beechcraft’s competitor Sierra Nevada Corp. after the suit was filed. To read the follow-up in full visit The Wichita Eagle:

The Wichita Eagle: “Air Force temporarily halts contract after Hawker Beechcraft suit“

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