So Boeing didn't even open the disc, but EADS did and BACKED THE DISC UP and then returned it?
Quote:
Air Force Acts to Fix Error in Tanker Bid
New York Times 12/01/2010
Author: Christopher Drew
c. 2010 New York Times Company
The Air Force on Tuesday said it had tried to rectify a mixup over a $35 billion tanker contract by deliberately providing two rivals data about each other’s bid.
A spokesman for the Air Force, Col. Les A. Kodlick, said the agency took that unusual step after it realized that one firm, the European Aeronautics Defense and Space Company, had opened a computer file containing some of the data but that its rival, Boeing, had not.
The mixup, which started when the Air Force inadvertently sent each company the wrong data in November, has thrown the long-running effort to replace its aging aerial refueling tankers into turmoil again.
The difference in how the companies handled the data, which emerged from interviews on Tuesday, has stoked Boeing’s concern about whether the process might be tainted. It hinted that it might file a formal protest.
“Until we’re satisfied we have a complete picture, we’re keeping our options open for how we go forward,” said Daniel C. Beck, a Boeing spokesman.
The Air Force said last week that it had reassigned two officials who mistakenly sent compact discs to the companies that contained government assessments of the refueling capacities of their rival’s planes.
At the time, the Air Force said both companies had promptly reported the error and returned the discs and said it saw no reason to halt the bidding.
Colonel Kodlick said Tuesday that forensic investigators had inspected computers at both companies. He said the inspections confirmed that Boeing’s employees had not opened a folder with the data about its competitor’s plane, while an EADS worker had “inadvertently opened” a file containing part of the government’s scoring of Boeing’s bid.
The Air Force then sought to neutralize the difference by resending each firm the other’s data and inviting them to examine it, Colonel Kodlick said.
The Air Force created formulas to compare the planes’ refueling capacities and costs.
Mr. Beck, the Boeing spokesman, said that when two Boeing employees had initially inserted the disc into a laptop, they saw that the name of the folder referred to the EADS tanker.
Mr. Beck said the employees “immediately removed the disc and locked it in a tamper-proof safe without opening any files or viewing any data on the disc.”
Sean O’Keefe, the chief executive of EADS North America, told reporters last week that none of his workers had read documents containing information about Boeing’s bid.
Mr. O’Keefe said Tuesday his worker had stopped at the first page. “As soon as we realized what we had, the disc was backed up and returned to the Air Force,” he said.
Two earlier efforts to award the contract were nullified by accusations of corruption and questions about the bid evaluations.