[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 15999]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              COMPETITION

  (Mr. BONNER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BONNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the value of 
competition in our Department of Defense acquisition process. Without 
competition, we have no choices, innovation does not exist, we have no 
bargaining position relative to costs, and the capability of our 
military stagnates.
  Some would argue that we must protect our industrial base. I would 
suggest that competition does just that. We live in a global economy, 
and when U.S. industry does not produce competitive products, our 
entire industrial base suffers. If we are to continue to procure the 
best military equipment for the best value the taxpayer dollar can 
afford, we must preserve the competitive process. In today's global 
economy, that means we must not shy away from our allies' 
participation.
  Air refueling is the key enabler to our global military might, and we 
need to get the competition for the KC-135 replacement program right. 
Otherwise, we will never know whether competition was true competition 
or whether our warfighters have received the best possible capability.

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