Here is some interesting scuttlebutt on the tanker challenge.

Two items, one is that the USAF has moved to have the GAO dismiss the challenge in its entirety, which is not unexpected, and the second is that USAF “Red Teamed” the bid process in response to the prior contract, the lease deal which imploded in corruption convictions and jail times for USAF and Boeing officials.

Well, the NorGrum official told me that for a month and a half, the Air Force convened a Red Team of the Army and Navy’s top procurement officers, staffers from Pentagon acquisition chief John Young’s office and Pentagon IG officials at Wright Patterson Air Force base. The team was tasked with poking holes in the contract process to make sure there could be no protest from either side on how the Air Force handled the competition.

I believe this report, because after the first tanker contract came down, and Boeing screwed it up by getting too greedy, which is what got the investigation going in the first place, I could see people from the top to the bottom of the chain of command having, “Don’t f&^% it up this time,” as an imperative