UPDATED: SASC Chair Levin Skeds Hearing
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell today released some of the questions she'd like answered during the presumptive Senate Armed Services Committee hearing looking into the incident where the Air Force mistakenly sent data to EADS and Boeing about the other's bids in the $35 billion KC-X contest.
(Note that the hearing has not yet been officially scheduled.) Sen. Carl Levin, SASC chairman, has scheduled the hearing for 9:30 a.m. Jan. 27.
Here are some of the question's she's got for Air Force brass:
What steps were taken to ensure EADS did not gain an unfair competitive advantage by having Boeing data for more than a month before the investigation was completed by the Air Force?
What did the Air Force’s forensic analysis show?
Were each company’s actions consistent with ethics rules, standards and practices described in the Air Force’s ethics briefing each bidder received?
Will the data release compromise the part of the bidding process that includes the three adjustments to price?
If so, what does this means for the competition?
Cantwell and other key Boeing supporters may well be growing worried that Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the committee, has not yet set a date for the hearing. Releasing the questions is a sure way to show Boeing that she's trying hard and, perhaps, to prod Levin into doing the hearing.
