spacetoday.net: Air Force, Boeing negotiating to lift contracting ban

Posted: Sun, Mar 28, 2004, 1:04 PM ET (1804 GMT)
The US Air Force and Boeing are negotiating terms of a compliance agreement that will permit the military to lift a ban that prevents the company from competing on launch vehicle contracts. Peter Teets, the Air Force undersecretary for space, told members of a Senate armed forces subcommittee Thursday that the agreement is currently being hammered out, although he offered no timetable regarding when it would be completed or the contracting ban lifted. The ban was enacted last summer by the Air Force as part of sanctions against the company for acquiring and using proprietary information from rival Lockheed Martin during the bidding on the initial phase of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contract in the mid-1990s. The Air Force also stripped Boeing of seven launches previously awarded to the company's Delta 4; those launches were transferred to Lockheed's Atlas 5. The ban had led the Air Force to delay the next round of EELV contracts, known as Buy 3, until later this year. Teets also warned the Senate that cost growth in the EELV program, caused by a lack of commercial launches, could force the Air Force to continue the program with just one supplier instead of two. The military had previously stated that it needed both companies so that it had "assured access" should one vehicle be grounded.