EADS to make solo bid for US refuelling tanker

I know there has been previous discussion regarding the US tanker contract, so I though this may be useful. Does this make the whole affair harder for everyone,including Boeing who were the only contender since Northrop Grumman dropped out, havong been selected then (er) deselected.

Link to BBC story

Does a soley European bid stand a chance?

Regards

The way the RFP is written now, there is no way that anyone but Boeing can win. The previous attempts were based on performance, now it's based on cost.

The current RFP, weighs 350 points, all equally. That means that the fact that the KC-767 carries more drinking water than the KC330 does, is just as important as the fact that the KC330 can offload more fuel quicker. That combined with the fact that the KC767 is cheaper, since it's smaller, and Boeing got all the pricing information when they lost the last bidding attempt, means that nothing EADS or EADS/NG can do will ensure that they win, which is why NG withdrew.