spacetoday.net: Pentagon grants Boeing waiver for Delta 2 launch

Posted: Sat, Aug 30, 2003, 10:24 AM ET (1424 GMT)
The Defense Department announced Friday that it was extending its contract with Boeing for Delta 2 launches even though there is a contracting ban on the company. The Pentagon announced late Friday that it was extending an existing contract for GPS satellite launches on Delta 2 launch vehicles through fiscal year 2004. The contract extension was valued at $56.7 million. In July the Defense Department announced a ban on three units of the Boeing company that provide launch services after an investigation showed that Boeing employees had acquired confidential Lockheed Martin documents and used them to bid for EELV launch contracts in the late 1990s. Pentagon officials did not explain why they had granted an exemption to the ban, although the launches covered by the contract extension were already planned well in advance of the contracting ban, with the first scheduled for October. The contracting ban is indefinite, although Air Force officials suggested they could lift the ban later this year if Boeing demonstrates it has made progress with business and ethical reforms the company has started to institute.