Tanker Wars (Part 1?)

As our SDA class forages through the characteristics of a game, and as I have been a stakeholder in this particular game, I wanted to share my opinion on the the "Tanker War" as it has come to be known. The latest of the saga can be found under this CNBC article,

Will Boeing Bow Out Of Tanker "Wars"?

Those who worked with me on the B-767 air refuelling tanker lease project at Vought Aircraft Industries can share with you their first impressions of our Republican Party's candidate for president, John McCain. Colorful language would ensue. He pretty much ended our game when he fought to defeat a lease of newly-minted B767 widebody commercial jets outfitted with an enlarged fuel tank and a refueling boom, the support structure of which I was helping to design. I could thank Mr. McCain for saving my country money and enlarging the pie for the USA, but he severly cut my piece of pie by denying me continued work and overtime as a contract engineer.

All things happen for a reason. You may not be reading this post right now if I were still on that project. You would probably be referring to me as your rich friend, but alas...

Characteristics of this game:

• Two players, Northrop Grumman and Boeing;
• Simultaneous, they both submit proposals and one wins;
• Rules of the game are fixed;
• Both players are aware of their own and each other' s participation;
• Symmetric information exists in the form of a thorough RFP, or Request For Proposal; and
• This is a one-shot deal since whoever wins supplies the US Air Force with their next tanker.

Shyeah right. How it was intended is not what has transpired.

• More players have arrived such as the Government Accountability Office and the maker of the rules itself, the US Air Force;
• Sequential, apparently one player can appeal/protest and send this game into extra innings;
• The rules of the game are up to interpretation and bending (and the Air Force has been accused of sharing more rules with Northrop than Boeing);
• The RFP was protested and revised to be more specific;
• This is not the first Air Force acquisition to be protested (Forget the Tanker, Let's Pick a Chopper)
• Both players may just need the other's participation:

"It remains unclear if a no-bid position from Boeing would drag out the KC-X competition or it if would compel the Pentagon to attempt a sole-source of the work to Northrop Grumman/EADS."

Stay tuned sports fans...it's going to be a long semester.

Update to this post:
My class group has decided to use this particular game in an in-depth analysis for our final project. I will post the results of that at the end of the course.