GAO Rules in favor of Boeing on Aerial Refueling Tanker

On Wednesday the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ‘sustained Boeing’s protest‘ regarding the Air Force’s decision to award a contract to build aerial refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman.

The Air Force now has “60 days to inform [the GAO] of the Air Force’s actions in response to [these] recommendations.” As I interpret the GAO statement, there are several directions in which the Air Force could go – it could ignore the recommendations and proceed with the contract as awarded or amend the solicitation and resume the competitive bidding process. Some in Congress believe that the Air Force should simply award the contract to Boeing – which has Alabama lawmakers a bit upset. (When the decision was made in late February, it was big news across the state of Alabama, but particularly in Mobile, where the tankers were scheduled to be built. The Birmingham News indicated that it would bring at least 1500 new jobs to the state. )

The GAO has not yet made the decision publicly available, “because the decision contains proprietary and source selection sensitive information.” However, the statement issued on Wednesday does include the rationale for sustaining the protest. Among them, it appears that the Air Force did not follow its own criteria for awarding the contract, as listed in the solicitation, and made several errors in calculating life cycle costs which, when corrected, revealed that Boeing did make a lower bid.

For more background information, the Mobile Press-Register has an informative podcast up on al.com

Update, 2008-07-06: I’m sure you’re aware by now that the GAO has released the redacted version of its opinion.

According to their web site, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will be holding a hearing on this July 15th. According to the Birmingham News, the House Armed Services Committee’s Air and Land Forces Subcommittee will be holding a hearing on this topic Thursday, July 10th. Both committees appear to make their hearings available via streaming audio or video; they also archive the hearings for later viewing/listening.

Alabama Media Portal

Alabama state agencies now have a place to post videos and images. “Media.alabama.gov offers State agencies a place to locate any media they may have in one convenient place, online.”

Videos can also be browsed by agency or by type of content, such as commercials and documentaries.  The Governor has his own channel. Images can only be posted if agencies have already posted a video.

The site also includes a news feed that pulls together press releases from all of the state agencies who use RSS. (Side note: I’m very glad to see state agencies beginning to use RSS more – it’s a great way to push out content to interested parties!)

The service is provided by the Office of Web Services within the Department of Finance’s Information Services Division.

Alabama tomatoes safe to eat

According to Alabama Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Ron Sparks, Alabama-grown tomatoes are going to be placed on the FDA’s ’safe to eat’ list this evening.

From the FDA’s web site: “The Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak appears to be linked to consumption of certain types of raw red tomatoes and products containing raw red tomatoes. The bacteria causing the illnesses are Salmonella serotype Saintpaul, an uncommon type of Salmonella.

The specific type and source of tomatoes are under investigation. However, preliminary data suggest that raw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw round red tomatoes are the cause. At this time, consumers should limit their tomato consumption to tomatoes that have not been implicated in the outbreak. These include cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomatoes sold with the vine still attached, and tomatoes grown at home.”

Earlier today it was announced that several restaurants and grocery stores have halted sales of tomatoes, following FDA guidelines.

GPO Draft Report on Regional Depository Libraries

Last week the Government Printing Office issued a draft report on Regional Depository Libraries in the 21st Century.  The report outlines some of the challenges facing Regionals (of which the University of Alabama is one), and suggests some recommendations “to ensure regional depository libraries are able to provide unimpaired access to Government information dissemination products for future generations.”  Comments on the draft are being accepted through June 15th.