[xoxoxoBruce]

The link to the opinion doesn't work.
tw spins so much, it's a wonder he doesn't screw himself into the ground.
I already addressed the people that went to jail, because of improper behavior, during the Air Force's attempt to lease tankers, to keep from siphoning money from their other wish list items. The attempt by the Air Force to hoodwink the congressional appropriations committee was unsuccessful, and has nothing to do with the bidding on the purchased tankers.

Boeing won the tanker contract because EADs had no suitable airframe for the project. Northrop cried foul because nobody else could supply a suitable airframe for the contract specifications. It the meantime, EADS developed the A330 airframe, but it was way to big and expensive for the specs the Air Force proposed. As the contract was rebid, in order to allow Northrop to compete, the Air Force repeatedly changed the rules, without telling Boeing.
Now Northrop/EADS has been awarded the contract and it's Boeing's turn to protest what they feel was an unfair competition.

A number of congressmen/women are upset and speaking out about the estimated 43,000, good paying jobs, lost in their districts. But, when Boeing files their reasons for feeling the competition was unfair, lost jobs and foreign dependency for war materials, are not legitimate objections, as far as the GAO is concerned. The protest must be based of substantial facts, not flag waving. The political posturing and mud slinging, don't effect the facts used for the determination, to be made by the GAO.