Peter La Franchi/CANBERRA
The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) re-launched its long delayed Air 87 competition for the supply of 20-24 armed reconnaissance helicopters in mid-December.
The move follows the halting of the original competition 14 months ago after a challenge to the Department's shortlisting process by Bell Helicopter Textron. The competition was to be re-opened by 30 June 2000, but the project was subsequently caught up in a freeze on all capital acquisition, imposed by the Australian Federal Government until the beginning of December.
Contenders in the new competition are the Agusta A129I, Bell Helicopter with the AH-1Z Zulu Cobra, Boeing with the AH-64D Apache helicopter and Eurocopter with the "Aussie Tiger".
Agusta is teamed with Tenix Defence Systems, but is expected to announce additional partners in the coming months. The original team included the former Tenix Defence Systems-owned Hawker De Havilland company, although it has since been sold to Boeing.
Boeing, meanwhile, is teamed with Boeing Australia and is expected to add BAE Systems Australia. BAE competed in the original tender process with South Africa's Denel, offering the Rooivalk helicopter, but Denel has elected not to re-bid.
Bell Helicopter is represented by Brisbane-based Helitech, teamed with Raytheon Systems Company Australia and Lockheed Martin, while Eurocopter is partnered with ADI, Celsius Hawker Pacific, and Brown and Root Services.
The new Australian Defence White Paper capability plan, released on 6 December, calls for the first of the new helicopters to enter operational service in 2004 - two years ahead of the original service date. The new tender is expected to remain open for at least 4.5 months, closing at the end of April. A shortlist of two will be announced in September/ October, and a final selection is expected by next December. Contract signature is targeted for January 2002.
The original competition was launched in May 1998, with Agusta, Boeing and Eurocopter shortlisted in April 1999. Bell Helicopter challenged the source selection in October 1999, alleging that the process had failed to follow the DoD's stated acquisition procedures on 88 points.
The case was referred by Australian Defence Minister John Moore to the Department of Defence's Inspector General, which recommended in January that the competition be re-opened.
Source: Flight International
