Gov. Gregoire�s statement on possible delay of tanker RFP deadline

For Immediate Release: March 15, 2010

OLYMPIA � Gov. Gregoire issued the following statement regarding the possible delay of the deadline for contractors to submit bids to the Pentagon for the refueling tanker contract:

�The Department of Defense has, to date, conducted an open, fair and transparent process to replace our aging KC-135 tankers. This process has included a draft RFP review and input process that helped shape the final RFP.

�For a military contract this important, any vendor with a partner should have engaged in the appropriate contingency planning well before the final RFP was released, in order to be responsive to the Pentagon and our warfighters within the timeline laid out by the department.

�Vendors should not be dictating the timeline of a procurement process � the customer should.

�This tanker is needed now. America�s troops and our states� own national guards have waited too long for it � every additional day of delay represents more cost and greater risk to our troops.

�Delaying the process because a potential bidder cannot assemble a responsive bid in a timely manner amounts to favoring vendors at the expense of our soldiers, sailors and airmen. They � not any of the companies who might want to build the tanker � are the ultimate customer, and we should not waste any time getting them the new equipment they so desperately need.�