Nikhil Grants Rod Procurement Authority — One Day After the AI Computer Was Removed

Nikhil to Rod: 'I infer that you recommend the purchase of this equipment. Please work on issuing a PO to Nadiia... Kindly ensure the PO goes out by Monday.' Rod had delivered a validation study ('DEVICE APPROVED FOR PRODUCTION USE... 0.43C average error... Correlation R = 0.9604') and went on to run the vendor setup and close the purchase by Oct 7. Rod was trusted with vendor-facing procurement authority the day after the AI system was removed and three weeks before the performance-concerns narrative began — inconsistent with a genuine performance concern.