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The Northrop/Grumman/LTV bid was non compliant (or "unresponsive) because they did not submit a fixed price tender. Apart from bidding $1.7 billion more than the ceiling Northrop only bid for a liability of $400m creating a "quasi-cost-reimbursement contract" (Stevenson). Also Northrop did not meet the RFP material spec and refused to provide the reliability guarantees. As quoted in Stevenson Tom V. Jones (Northrop CEO) said:"I looked at the fiscal aspects of this contract proposal request and decided that the net worth of neither team was large enough to absorb the loss that a fixed-price type development was likely to create. I felt it would be irresponsible to accept a fixed price on this development contract as we had an obligation to our shareholders and customers to remain financially viable..."Skurla in "Inside the Iron Works" says that Grumman's Tom Kane had learnt from their Navy friends that their negative assessments of the N/G/LTV bid was that the Navy didn't understand the inlet, the bomb bay was a mess because it used different hanging fixtures for each possible weapon (up to 24) and they weren't happy with terms and conditions (see above). And that the Navy was going to ask for a resubmit with these three items fixed. Kane went and explained all this to Northrop but there was no change on the terms and conditions.Skurla’s opinion was that Grumman should have primmed on the ATA because they had more people available to handle the bid and better Navy understanding. Northrop at the time was building the ATB (B-2) and bidding for the ATF (F-23). He also takes a swipe at Jones who was in trouble over ROKAF F-20 bribery allegations which I think is a bit unfair because Grumman had the luxury of never really having to soil its hands with work in the third world.But one thing is for sure apart from the stealth experience the Northrop ATA was a much nicer airplane. The design is so good it is basically reused in the X-47B and in the Northrop LRB proposals. If they had been selected perhaps as part of a Grumman prime with Northrop designing the aircraft then the A-12 “Mini Spirit” most likely would have flown and still be in production today. It would be an ideal aircraft for contemporary eight hour complex CAS/strike missions and provide the USN and any AF operator a heck of a lot of reach and capability. So good that you would want to bend the RN into building their CVFs to fly them and work towards building the entire USN air wing around this aircraft.
The Northrop/Grumman/LTV bid was non compliant (or "unresponsive) because they did not submit a fixed price tender. Apart from bidding $1.7 billion more than the ceiling Northrop only bid for a liability of $400m creating a "quasi-cost-reimbursement contract" (Stevenson). Also Northrop did not meet the RFP material spec and refused to provide the reliability guarantees. As quoted in Stevenson Tom V. Jones (Northrop CEO) said:
"I looked at the fiscal aspects of this contract proposal request and decided that the net worth of neither team was large enough to absorb the loss that a fixed-price type development was likely to create. I felt it would be irresponsible to accept a fixed price on this development contract as we had an obligation to our shareholders and customers to remain financially viable..."
Skurla in "Inside the Iron Works" says that Grumman's Tom Kane had learnt from their Navy friends that their negative assessments of the N/G/LTV bid was that the Navy didn't understand the inlet, the bomb bay was a mess because it used different hanging fixtures for each possible weapon (up to 24) and they weren't happy with terms and conditions (see above). And that the Navy was going to ask for a resubmit with these three items fixed. Kane went and explained all this to Northrop but there was no change on the terms and conditions.
Skurla’s opinion was that Grumman should have primmed on the ATA because they had more people available to handle the bid and better Navy understanding. Northrop at the time was building the ATB (B-2) and bidding for the ATF (F-23). He also takes a swipe at Jones who was in trouble over ROKAF F-20 bribery allegations which I think is a bit unfair because Grumman had the luxury of never really having to soil its hands with work in the third world.
But one thing is for sure apart from the stealth experience the Northrop ATA was a much nicer airplane. The design is so good it is basically reused in the X-47B and in the Northrop LRB proposals. If they had been selected perhaps as part of a Grumman prime with Northrop designing the aircraft then the A-12 “Mini Spirit” most likely would have flown and still be in production today. It would be an ideal aircraft for contemporary eight hour complex CAS/strike missions and provide the USN and any AF operator a heck of a lot of reach and capability. So good that you would want to bend the RN into building their CVFs to fly them and work towards building the entire USN air wing around this aircraft.
