Wouldn't you like to get $2.9 Billion worth of business guaranteed plus a sizable award fee on top of it. One would think the taxpayers (and our service men) would be better served by competitively procuring these helicopters based on performance and price.
The number of bidders, in general, is very limited, sometimes only one.
Compliance and oversight on a Government contract is, in a word, unbelievable ( even for members of this board).
I worked for a major tire manufacturer in the 80's that was involved in the production of tank tracks. Sounds funny , but in those days tank tracks had rubber inserts to minimize civilian road damage. I asuume that's still the case today.
We had approx. 15 government compliance inspectors on site, who litteraly would bring pillows to work so they could sleep during the work day.
This was fine by us, because when they were sleeping they weren't screwing us up.
Later on in my career, I was barred from negotiating government contracts for the company, simply due to the cost of compliance and, of course, the possibility of litigation.
The "System" sucked then, and I assume it still does.