Lagniappe Mobile Blog

Despite the wild ramblings of people like County Commissioner Mike Dean, who at a public meeting Monday said repeatedly that the competition for the Air Force tanker was lost and should be abandoned, there are still some rabbits to be pulled from hats. In my latest column, I discuss what I think will happen concerning Brookley Field and Mobile’s opportunities to build “big jets.”

My contention is while the tanker may or may not be a lost cause, there is still a lot happening here and Brookley is certainly a desirable place for those who build those wonderful flying machines. In fact, as Airport Authority Director Bay Haas told me in another story, Brookley has now been selected four times to build large aircraft. True, nary a one has been built, but it at least means people think it’s a great place to TALK about building planes.

The city and county of Mobile are going through contortional flocculations in the form of apocalyptic battles of annexation, resignation of a major politician and a drive to bring Prohibition back to the Port City. Meanwhile the county did give three million to an ad firm to talk us up, to advertise the town that has grabbed the attention of the nation if not indeed the world as the next great little mid-sized city. Nestled between New Orleans and Atlanta, Mobile sits pretty and patiently waits her turn in the spotlight. The juxtaposition today is not the spotlight per se but rather upon which the glaring light shines, and it shines not so quaint and coquettish , but rather boisterous if not monstrous at a time when so many plan carefully for the possible eventual tanker contract, larger cruise ships and a newly designed downtown that will rival some of the best. This is what causes consternation and dizzyment. Just when it seems no wrinkles should appear in the antebellum dress, when gentlemen’s pant creases should be perfectly in the right place, squawking suddenly flies out of the belfry and Mobile County has a multitude of disarray in her pretty hair. Petty attacks such as throwing a beer fest on Dauphin Street but telling people they can’t walk from bar A to bar B with a plastic mug of beer. Or, a major crackdown not on drunk drivers themselves or the courts who slap their hands but rather little old convenience stores who with a few minor infractions suddenly must appear before the city council and beg for their lives. I witnessed such at one meeting and it reminded me of the snake slithering past a giant frog on it’s way to snag a little ant. Priorities, folks - things in the order of real importance, not your personal feelings on the subject at the expense of city and county taxpayers - thank you! I’ve writ a piece about the annexation issue, which has since transformed into something more ugly going uglier. Cookie cutter politics, snatch and grab amendments and resolutions and of course all seven of city council are behind this good-hearted campaign to help the poor souls who beg to become part of the city. Some of them aren’t really sure why they want to but in a group mentality their little individual opinion adds up to zero. It’s all the stuff of which good novels are made, and hopefully those outside our periphery expect these shenanigans .

CNBC’s is reporting Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided the Air Force will rebid the tanker contract between Northrop Grumman/EADS and Boeing.

This isn’t unexpected, but the official announcement is set for 1 p.m. Eastern at the Pentagon. Boeing was trading higher on the news, Northrop slightly lower.

Sen. Patty Murray’s (D-Wash.) office told CNBC the decision is expected

Developing…

Boeing cheerleader and Kansas congressman Todd Tiahrt (Republican) appeared on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” this week to further politicize the GAO decision.

Todd Tiahrt and the Boeing Tanker Deal (YouTube)

Highlights:

“No, it doesn’t make any sense,” Tiahrt said. “And this GAO report was scathing. It said that the Air Force violated their own rules. They misled the Boeing Company. They miscalculated the cost and the Boeing Company was actually the lowest. So, it’s really difficult for — to understand why they would bend over backwards to outsource our national security to the French.”

(snip)

DOBBS: And no mention of the fact that Airbus is subsidized, that EADS is in the business of subsidies. But, again, this idea, I want everybody in this country to have a job. I’m sorry, that’s just me.

I’d like the folks down in Alabama to have their jobs in this. I’d like the folks in Kansas and in Washington, all around the country working for Boeing and Northrop Grumman to be working on this project together. Is that a possibility here?

TIAHRT: Well, not under the current ground rules.

DOBBS: Well, let’s fix it! Let’s fix the ground rules. You’re the boss. You’re in congress.

TIAHRT: That’s why I put this RFP together that lays out a level playing field for American workers. It would allow a Northrop Grumman and a Boeing to team together in this situation.

(snip)

It may be a good or bad thing, but the Northrop Grumman guys - Bonner, Sessions and Shelby aren’t being as aggressive as the Boeing  folks - Tiahrt, Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.), Sens. Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), Patty Murray(D-Wash.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and to a lesser extent, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas).

Mobile’s hopes for an aircraft assembly plant just took a serious hit. As shown in the latest edition of Lagniappe, Boeing claimed the Air Force made math errors in their evaluation of the proposals. CNBC is reporting the U.S. General Accounting Office has also found that to be the case and called them “significant errors.”

Boeing (NYSE:BA) is trading sharply higher on the news, while Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) has taken a slight hit. Although the Air Force doesn’t have to abide by the GAO’s ruling, the likely outcome is for another round of bidding for the tanker contract experts say.

In February, the Air Force awarded a $35 billion contract for refueling tankers to a partnership of EADS and Northrop Grumman. The GAO is claiming the U.S. Air Force misled Boeing and is recommending the U.S. Air Force re-open discussions and re-evaluate bid proposals.

[Click Here for GAO statement] (h/t Chip Drago at MobileBayTimes.com)

This was first reported by Reuters and just confirmed on CNBC, but the U.S. Air Force admitted it made a significant math error in determining the cost effectiveness of the Northrop Grumman/EADS prototype versus the Boeing prototype.

According to CNBC, Northrop Grumman maintained its bid is still the best and that its merits weren’t based on the advantages given to it by math error.

Even though Chicago is Boeing’s corporate HQ, we all know it’s heart and soul is Seattle. In my latest column, I talk about  how all this tanker business is starting to make people around here hate on the Emerald City. (more…)

I’m not sure how powerful my psychic friend’s predictive powers are, but I called my old buddy Nostridumas the other night to find out how we might benefit from the Northop/EADS contract. Of course that was before Boeing protested. Wait, shouldn’t he have known that was coming?

While it always makes me nervous when politics are involved, I think Boeing will get spanked, as they should, and this contract will help transform this city.

And before any of you ask, no, I was not on acid when I wrote this insanity.