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WASHINGTON, D.C.- Boeing is meeting with Pentagon officials this week to discuss the latest phase of a disputed $35 billion tanker contract as the company prepares its response to what some lawmakers and analysts have said are new guidelines that favor the larger plane of rival Northrop Grumman.

Boeing Co. is meeting with Pentagon officials at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, to discuss the new draft request for proposals, or RFP, issued last week. The document outlines the Pentagon's requirements for the new fleet of 179 aerial refueling planes for the Air Force.

Boeing isn't saying much about the quest for the tanker deal except to knock down an Aviation Week report that Boeing may walk away.

"I don't know what the sources were for this report that Boeing is uh strongly considering not bidding on the tankers. We have not made any decisions at all," said Boeing spokesman Dan Beck.

All they want from the Pentagon is more clarity for the evaluation, he said.  Then they will make their decision to bid or not to bid.

The company has not had any substantial reaction to the new guidelines, which were issued after Boeing's protest of the original award to Northrop Grumman Corp. A Government Accountability Office review found "significant errors" in the Air Force's decision, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates reopened the bidding.

Defense analysts say Boeing could register its objections to the new RFP by filing another protest or threatening not to bid in the second round. Either option could drag out development of a plane the Air Force badly needs to replace its 1950s-era fleet of tankers.

"Boeing will need to do everything in its power to maximize the competitive balance of that RFP," said Jim McAleese, a defense analyst based in Virginia.

That means trying to overcome language in the draft request that appears to give extra credit to Northrop's KC-45 plane over Boeing's KC-767. The new decision will give "additional value" to a plane that can carry more fuel than is required, language that Boeing's Capitol Hill supporters have said favors Northrop's larger plane.

Boeing could submit a bid based on its larger Boeing 777 commercial aircraft, or a stretched out version of its original design. But some analysts and Boeing allies suggest the tight time frame of the second round of bidding -- the Pentagon wants to pick a winner by the end of the year -- would make it difficult to re-engineer its proposal.

"There is absolutely no way that they could do that," said George Behan, a spokesman for Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., one of Boeing's staunchest supporters in Congress.

"(The KC 7676) had the right capabilities, the right fuel offload capability, and so we still believe that is the right tanker for this mission," said Beck.  "Now if the Defense Department feels they need to go for something else, we need to understand what their reasons and what their requirements are."

Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the idea of Boeing not bidding is disconcerting. 

"If Boeing were to drop out of the contract, it would have a huge impact on this country and not having the capability to build our military equipment here at home," said Murray. 

But analysts say Boeing's threat to drop out could simply be a strategic move. Northrop made similar no-bid threats in early 2007 during the initial round of bidding because of what they thought were unfavorable terms in the Pentagon's guidelines. The threat paid off - the Air Force re-opened the bid.

"I think that Boeing is probably playing a bit of chicken," said Paul Nesbit, JSA Research.

If Boeing opts not to compete, the Pentagon would be forced to award a sole source contract to Northrop as the only remaining bidder, McAleese said. A $35 billion contract would be a huge amount to award without any competition, he said, and could drag a decision past the end of the year.

Northrop, which has partnered with Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., also submitted its comments Sunday and is scheduled to meet with the Pentagon after Boeing does on Tuesday.

Northrop spokesman Randy Belote would not comment on the submission, but said the Los Angeles-based company believes the new draft RFP does not alter requirements the Pentagon was looking for in the first round of bidding.

During the original contract award, Northrop used suggestions that it would not bid to win concessions, such as language on the plane's size. But Northrop had the support of the current presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., to help push through those changes, according to Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute. Boeing likely doesn't have the same congressional muscle behind it this time.

Late Tuesday, a Boeing spokesman said the company hopes for a "continuing dialogue" with the pentagon, leading up to the final tanker contract specifications which could be issued as soon as this Friday.

KING 5's Don Porter and Charlotte Starck contributed to this report.