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Doesn't the lower bidder still have to provide proof of a chain of custody for sensitive equipment?

Just one procurement officer with the slightest doubt, and calling up someone at Cisco HQ to double check a serial number, would have discovered this scam almost instantly.

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That procurement officer could be less than a year removed from high school and in charge of ordering anything from ballpoint pens to medical devices and weapons. They aren't experts in what they are purchasing all the time. I doubt there are specific details on how these got ordered, but there are scenarios that could lead to little questioning.

Scenarios that lead to little questioning, sure, but none that lead to zero questioning.

Unless they are already part of a well established contractor. And even then at least a few dozen sets of eyeballs are going over the paperwork from my understanding.

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