Washington, D.C. – Alabama will have to wait another six months before learning if it will be the U.S. manufacturing base for the next generation of Air Force refueling tankers. But state officials were expressing confidence that Alabama would still win the work.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday the Pentagon would conduct a limited rebid for the contract that looks only at issues where government auditors found problems in the initial bidding.
The tanker work, worth potentially $40 billion, was awarded earlier this year to a team made up of Northrop Grumman Corp. and the European maker of Airbus. The team would have assembled the planes in Mobile.
But the competing bidder, Boeing Co., mounted a successful protest, prompting the Pentagon to reconsider.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)