Posted: Wed, Jan 21, 2004, 10:43 AM ET (1543 GMT)
Boeing's continued suspension from bidding on military launch contracts will likely delay the procurement of the next round of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contracts until April or May, Pentagon officials said recently. The Air Force suspended Boeing from bidding on military launch contracts as part of its punishment for acquiring sensitive EELV documents from competitor Lockheed Martin in the mid-1990s and using those when preparing its own bid. Air Force officials said there is no timetable for removing the suspension, which is supposed to remain in place until Boeing has taken sufficient steps to prevent similar problems in the future. The "Buy Three" EELV contracts will cover over 20 launches initially valued at about $2 billion, but which could rise to $3 billion because of cost increases with both Boeing's Delta 4 and Lockheed's Atlas 5. That price increase will subject the program to an automatic review of any military program whose costs increase by at least 25 percent, although there is almost no chance this review would lead to cancellation of the program.
