McCain Panel Focus On Cost Of Secret B-21 Bomber Could Force Restructure (from Forbes)

The Senate Armed Services Committee is reviewing the Pentagon’s fiscal 2017 budget request, and one area where committee chairman John McCain is sure to focus is the Air Force’s B-21 bomber.  The Air Force desperately needs a more survivable, maintainable bomber, but it has committed the classic error of giving winning contractor Northrop Grumman an open-ended commitment of funding for development.  Senator McCain and his colleagues want to know why a program with stable requirements and mature technologies couldn’t be developed using a fixed-price contract where industry absorbs the cost of any failure to live up to its commitments.  In fact, the Air Force was offered a fixed-price deal by Northrop’s competitor, Boeing.  The service chose to go with the Northrop team and a “cost-plus” contract because Northrop’s very aggressive bid was just too good to pass up.  Senator McCain is determined to compel a rethink before the inevitable cost overruns begin accumulating.  I have written a commentary for Forbes here.