In 1991 the Air Force awarded a $93 billion or more contract to a group led by Lockheed, Boeing, and General Dynamics to build the new fighter plane for the 21st century, the YF-22 Lighning 2. A group headed by Northrop and McDonnell Douglas, which had spent more than $1 billion on development for their alternative YF-23,lost out on the contract. That evening on CNN's Crossfire, the Secretary of Defense explained that the Lockheed group got the contract because their "quality for the price per plane was higher." He didn't elaborate. In terms of the theory set forth in this chapter what did he mean
We have no access to any program or text, so you will need to explain what the theory set forth in that chapter is.
What I can tell you is that a huge contract to build the A-12 Avenger II, a stealthy, long-rangte flying wing attack aircraft ws cancelled by
Cheney, the Defense Secretary at that time, because of technical issues, cost overruns and delays. This led to a layoff of some 5,600 employees and many of those engineers went to Lockheed. The case of whether the government should pay progress payments or not was still in litigation in 2007!
With a large exodus of engineers going to Lockheed, Lockheed had the quality to offer that McDonnel-Douglas no longer had.
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P.S. That cancellation of the contract occurred on January 13, 1991.
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The Secretary of Defense's statement about the Lockheed group winning the contract because their "quality for the price per plane was higher" can be understood in the context of the theory of cost-effectiveness. This theory suggests that when comparing different options or proposals, decision-makers assess the quality or performance of the options relative to their cost or price.
Typically, when evaluating contracts for large-scale projects like building a new fighter plane, decision-makers consider various factors to determine the best value for money. These factors may include technical capabilities, performance, maintenance costs, operational effectiveness, and overall affordability.
In this case, the Secretary of Defense likely meant that the Lockheed group offered a better balance between the quality of their proposed fighter plane (YF-22 Lightning 2) and the cost per plane. This implies that their proposal was deemed to have a higher level of performance and capabilities relative to the price. The decision was likely based on the overall cost-effectiveness of the Lockheed group's offering compared to the competitors.
However, without further elaboration from the Secretary of Defense, it is difficult to determine the specific criteria and considerations that led to the selection of Lockheed over the Northrop and McDonnell Douglas group. Additional information could provide a more detailed understanding of the decision-making process and the specific quality and cost factors that were assessed.