KF-16 upgrade fiasco; DAPA broke FMS rules

South Korea’s government has completed its own investigation into the blotched attempt to upgrade the RoKAF F-16 with BAE Systems as contractor.

F-16 Phase Maintenance 150609-F-EA289-025
By Staff Sgt. Nicholas Wilson (https://www.dvidshub.net/image/2059332) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) review found that the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) broke U.S. foreign military sales (FMS) by having select the vendor and negotiate the price via competitive bidding.

DAPA also failed to heed warning from the Pentagon not to proceed with competitive bidding.

The review found that the mistake delayed the program by four-years and incurred a loss of US$89 million. The board also recommended that two employees of DAPA be dismiss.