Jane Edwards
A U.S. Air Force official has said the service branch has postponed the release of a request for proposals for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System recapitalization program as the service works to resolve a provision in the defense authorization bill with Congress, Defense News reported Wednesday.
Air Force acquisition chief Darlene Costello told the Air Force Association’s annual conference service branch is in talks with Congress to drop a provision in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s proposed legislation that would require the military branch to use a fixed-price contract for the JSTARS recap program.
The Air Force said in December that it would exercise options on the pre-EMD contracts awarded to industry teams led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman after the JSTARS recap program received a Milestone A decision to advance to the technology maturation risk reduction phase.
Costello said the military branch uses a combination of cost-plus and fixed-price contracts during a program’s engineering, manufacturing and development phase.
“A generic statement saying it must be a firm, fixed-price contract for EMD is a challenge for us,†she added.
Defense News said the service branch plans to buy 17 aircraft under the JSTARS recap program and expects to award an EMD contract in fiscal year 2018.
