The losing team on Dec. 17 filed a 133-page brief with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailing further its contention that Northrop was not the best and most economical choice to build the aircraft.
Boeing announced Friday that it and Lockheed would continue with the protest, on which the GAO must rule by Feb. 14. The brief was the team’s official response to a filing in early December by the Air Force in answer to the initial protest.
Northrop, meanwhile, has been ordered to halt all production work on its LRS-B design while the protest is decided. That has not dampened the company’s spirits. It has launched a series of self-congratulatory events at its installations nationwide, one of which was held Dec. 18 at the company’s campus in McLean, Va., outside Washington, D.C.
The contract awarded to Northrop has two parts: a fixed-price contract with incentives for reducing cost for 21 aircraft in five lots. The average unit flyaway cost for the contract is $511 million in 2010 dollars for a total of 100 bombers. That translates to $564 million per bomber in fiscal year 2016 dollars. The entire scope of work for the entire required fleet is estimated to be worth $80 billion.