U.S. Probes Actions Of Boeing Executive:Ex-Air Force Official Had Data

[cthrumatrix]

U.S. Probes Actions Of Boeing Executive
Ex-Air Force Official Had Proprietary Data
By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 4, 2003; Page E03

snip

" The inspector general's office launched the investigation into Druyun's actions after the Senate Commerce Committee collected 8,000 e-mails and memos from Boeing, the Air Force, the Pentagon, and the Office of Management and Budget. According to an e-mail released by the committee, Druyun told Boeing officials that its competitor, Europe's Airbus, had submitted a bid that was lower by $5 million to $17 million per plane.

"If it was proprietary it was wrong" of Druyun to release it, Roche said.

Boeing officials denied receiving any proprietary information and noted that aircraft prices are available on the Internet. The e-mail was distributed after the Air Force announced that it would negotiate a deal with Boeing, so the information did not help formulate their initial bid, company officials said. Druyun, through a company spokesman, declined to comment.

Debriefing competitors after a competition is common, "but the use of specific numbers may not have been appropriate and that is being looked into," Roche said.

McCain said he would continue to fight the deal but was not optimistic. The contract has already been approved by three of the four committees with jurisdiction, and the holdout, the Senate Armed Services Committee, is considered friendly to the deal, industry officials said. "The fix is in," McCain said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22657-2003Sep3.html

The "fix is in" alright...and taxpayers are getting taking to the cleaners for this "invasion of Iraq".