By putting out what amounts to a new request for proposals (RFP) - limited as it is to the current competitors - for the combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter purchase, the U.S. Air Force should be on track to repair its tarnished acquisition reputation, according to industry analysts.

The new RFP also could change the outcome of the service's decision, at least one analyst says.

And while the move will delay a final contract decision, the service appears to be adamant about sticking to its desired delivery schedules.

Rebuffed twice by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in response to contract award protests by losing bidders Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky, the Air Force has been facing inquiries by lawmakers on the selection process the service used to award Boeing the deal, worth between $10 billion and $15 billion, to build more than 140 helicopters.

Richard Aboulafia, vice president of the Teal Group, and James McAleese of McAleese and Associates, said the Air Force needed to prove it could conduct a fair and open competition - not only for CSAR-X, but for other big-bucks projects moving forward, such as the tanker replacement contract.

The latest RFP change should do that, analysts say.

Unlike the initial RFP amendments from the GAO protest decisions, in which the Air Force only narrowly focused on certain lifecycle costs, the most current changes do much more (DAILY, Sept. 27).

"Although the three teams engaged in the recompetition are already defined, in other regards the process will be like starting over," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute. "There will be a revised RFP leading to new proposals, and the teams are free to change both the cost and non-cost features of their previous proposals."

Any one of the teams could win under the new ground rules, Thompson said. However, he also said Air Force insiders think the negative response to the initial selection of Boeing's HH-47, combined with challenges that Lockheed Martin is facing on its US101 in the presidential helicopter program cited by GAO, could create an opening for Sikorsky.

The common understanding among senior Air Force officials is that information gathering for the issuance of a new RFP will be completed by year's end, but a new award will not take place until late summer or fall of 2008, Thompson said.

"Senior Air Force officials would still like to meet the original deadline for fielding a new search and rescue helicopter, because the existing fleet has grown so decrepit," he said. "Industry experts are doubtful that is possible, but the company that offers the fastest, cheapest solution could look best to an increasingly beleaguered Air Force."