Air Force Mixup: Military sends Boeing's tanker bid info to rival EADS and EADS' info to Boeing

[Psephos]

Source: Mobile (AL) Press-Register

The U.S. Air Force said today that it inadvertently sent internal assessments of the bids for its $40 billion refueling tanker contract to the wrong manufacturers, potentially compromising the high-profile competition between Boeing Co. and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.

The Air Force recently sent computer files to the rival bidders but mixed them up -- delivering its technical review of Boeing’s bid to EADS, and vice versa. The information included pricing data that is closely guarded by the companies as a crucial factor in the high-stakes competition.

The Air Force said Friday that it was notified of the mistake by the bidders and that the error was not likely to disrupt the selection process. The Air Force had been scheduled to pick a winner for the 179-plane contract -- known as KC-X -- by Nov. 12, but that deadline passed without a decision.

<snip>

Kodlick said the Air Force was analyzing the information that was disclosed and had taken steps to ensure that both competitors had equal access to the same data. He said the service was also trying to find out how the mistake happened and ensure that it is not repeated.

<snip>

Read more: http://blog.al.com/live/2010/11/air_force_mistakenly_releases.html

[bluedigger]

1. Well, fair's fair.

[boppers]

2. Well, that;'s one way to increase competitiveness...

...or reduce it.....

[James48]

3. Somebody is in big, big trouble....

Ooops!

[marasinghe]

4. brought to you by the guys bringing droning death to the Afghanis (n/t)

[Historic NY]

5. Its called collusion!!

[McCamy Taylor]

6. Looks like Scoop Jackson is active even from the grave.

[tammywammy]

7. *gasp*

Someone's in deep trouble for releasing proprietary information to competitors.

[jonthebru]

8. These highly trained intelligent people...

are supposed to know what they are doing.

[tammywammy]

9. Why weren't the files saved like...

Internal_Assessment_BOEING
Internal_Assessment_EADS


I guess that makes too much sense. I'm just wondering how much more the tanker bid can get fucked up.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Oh, fer fucks sake

How long will this tanker scandal last?

Just release ALL information to the public and then start the tendering process AGAIN.

When was the original scandal? 2003?

Get your shit together, guys.

[Kolesar]

11. double FFS

We had a retriever named Kayla too.