[plain talk]

During the interview process he discovered that the BOM for the rocket was being stored in an Excel spreadsheet.

What is a BOM?

These people are way over their heads. More explosions to come.

[Bryan24]

Bill Of Materials. It is the root “build list”, a list of all parts needed.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

BOM = Bill of Materials, i.e. the complete parts list for building the rocket.

It can be used to estimate costs, weight, scheduling, etc.

My friend was most interested in how they kept track of the overall weight of the rocket so they knew how much lift they would need to get it airborne.

They didn't seem quite as concerned as my friend.