Former Siemens employee ‘used stolen trade secrets to undercut GE gas turbine bid’
US government charges a former energy executive with taking part in conspiracy to use stolen trade secrets in closed bid process | Use of confidential information allegedly led Siemens to resubmit lower bid for turbine project | Bids involved General Electric, Mitsubishi, and Dominion.
On Tuesday (October 24), the US Attorney charged a former Siemens employee with his alleged involvement in a scheme to undercut General Electric and Mitsubishi in their bids for a gas turbine plant through the theft of trade secrets.
In the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the US government accused the ex-energy executive of conspiring with others to use confidential information belonging to GE and Mitsubishi.
The goal was gain a competitive advantage in a closed bid process for a new gas turbine plant in Virginia to be built by utilities supplier Dominion, the US Attorney said.
Dominion’s project was a ‘Peaker’ plant, a combustion turbine plant designed to boost electricity generation capacity to alleviate high grid load and improve electric grid resiliency.
It was expected to cost Dominion upwards of $500 million, and companies were invited to bid to provide equipment as well as long-term servicing agreements.
The individual is accused of using trade secrets stolen from GE and Mitsubishi to improve Siemens’ chances of winning the work by undercutting its rivals.
‘Specific price reduction’
According to the complaint, an ex-Dominion employee sent confidential information relating to Mitsubishi and GE’s bids to an employee at Siemens, who passed it on to the named individual.
Allegedly, this included unit pricing details for sale of various numbers of combustion turbines, turbine emissions specifications, and options pricing for various features that improved turbine efficiency and output capacity.
Knowing it was improperly obtained, this individual then “strategically disseminated” the information to others within the company, the US government alleges.
This resulted in the company resubmitting a lower bid for the Dominion Peaker project “undercutting GE’s bid, which was, by some metrics, more competitive” at the time.
As part of the closed bid process, GE and Mitsubishi had entered into non-disclosure agreements covering the information that would be exchanged.
According to the court document, the individual acknowledged in a sworn deposition in August 2021 that his recommendation to company executives to initiate a “specific price reduction” was driven by his knowledge of GE’s bid price, and that without that knowledge, the company would “probably not” have initiated a price move.
Other Dominion and Siemens employees have made guilty pleas in relation to the matter.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox
