Senate to hold oversight hearing on tanker data mixup

Published 11:14 am Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the release of tanker data by the U.S. Air Force, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash, said Wednesday.

Cantwell said in a news release that she had secured a commitment for the hearing from committee chairman Carl Levin during negotiations over the National Defense Authorization Act approved by the Senate Wednesday.

Air Force officials acknowledged earlier this year that data from EADS and the Boeing Co., bidders for a $35 billion contract to build 179 new refueling tankers, had been mistakenly returned to the wrong company.

Cantwell said she wanted to determine if the mistake provided EADS with an unfair advantage in the competition.

Air Force officials said the computer disks containing the data were returned as soon as the companies realized they had the wrong ones and that neither company had an unfair advantage.

The Senate hearing will be held in January. A decision on the contract was supposed to happen this year but has now been delayed until early next year.