Boeing-EADS Tanker Data Gaffe Prompts Senate Inquiry
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin promised an investigation into the release of bid data for Boeing Co. and European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. on the U.S. Air Force’s new aerial tanker.
The Michigan Democrat’s pledge today for at least one hearing by Feb. 1 centers on an Air Force error that the service said gave Boeing and EADS a “limited amount” of information about each other’s proposal for the $35 billion tanker program.
“I am prepared to direct staff immediately to initiate an investigation into the release to determine if laws and fair competition regulations have been appropriately followed,” Levin told Senator Maria Cantwell on the Senate floor, according to a transcript from Levin’s office.
Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington state, the home of Boeing’s commercial airplane business, was prepared to block the $725 billion defense policy bill until winning Levin’s promise to investigate, said a Senate aide familiar with the issue, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.
A Cantwell objection would have prevented a recorded vote for 30 hours on the defense measure, which was approved today by the Senate for fiscal 2011.
Winner Announcement?
The winner of the tanker competition may be announced next month as the Air Force chooses between competing models from Chicago-based Boeing and EADS to replace 179 of a fleet of more than 500 KC-135 refueling aircraft. The military depends on the tankers to extend the range of combat and transport planes.
An Air Force spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Miller, had no immediate comment on Levin’s inquiry.
Boeing and EADS each mistakenly received a single page of data on mission capabilities, not pricing, for its rival’s aircraft, the Air Force said last month. Those bids are now under government review.
Boeing gained 42 cents to $64.61 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. EADS, which has headquarters in Paris and Munich, fell 4 cents to 18.03 euros in Paris.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net
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