Wayne Allard: “last week, the Under Secretary of the Air Force, Peter Teets, announced the Air Force's determination that the Boeing…”

“last week, the Under Secretary of the Air Force, Peter Teets, announced the Air Force's determination that the Boeing Company had committed serious violations of Federal law by illegally acquiring thousands of documents from its chief competitor, Lockheed Martin. Apparently, the Boeing Company used this information to underbid Lockheed during the billion-dollar Evolved Expendable Vehicle competition. Boeing's illegal activity probably cost Lockheed Martin hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts and did serious damage to the Federal Government's procurement process. As a result, the Air Force has punished the Boeing Company by suspending Boeing's Launch Systems, Services, and Delta business units for an indefinite period of time. The Air Force also reduced the total number of Boeing launches by seven. The Air Force increased the total number of launches for Lockheed by the same number. The Air Force granted Lockheed Martin permission to develop a west coast launch capability at Vandenberg Air Force Base, which will give Lockheed an opportunity to compete for launches from this critical base. This decision will give the Air Force more flexibility in awarding launches in the future. I was pleased by the Air Force's decision. Integrity of the procurement process is essential and nothing less than the highest standards should be expected.”