GAO denies protest in Air Force tanker contest

GAO on Wednesday denied a protest by a company the Air Force tossed out of the competition to manufacture a new fleet of aerial refueling tankers, ensuring that Boeing Co. and the European consortium EADS will be the only bidders for the lucrative contract.

After an investigation prompted by U.S. Aerospace Inc., GAO concluded that the company submitted its proposal at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, minutes after the 2 p.m. deadline on July 9.

"Consequently the Air Force acted appropriately in rejecting the proposal," according to a statement released by Ralph White, GAO's managing associate general counsel for procurement law.

U.S. Aerospace had asserted that its messenger had received inaccurate directions to the contracting office by the guard at the Wright Patterson gate, delaying the submission of the proposal.

But GAO concluded that U.S. Aerospace's messenger did not allow enough time to get to the office, did not get advance approval for entry onto the base, and attempted to enter the base through a gate for military personnel only.

"USAI has not demonstrated that the alleged government misdirection and/or delays associated with its messenger's entry at gate 19B was the paramount cause of the late delivery of USAI's proposal," GAO said in its decision. "To the contrary, the record indicates that, even accepting USAI's assertions that the gate guard provided inaccurate directions which delayed the submission of USAI's proposal, USAI's own actions significantly contributed to the late submission of its proposal."