Can Shell Execute do that?
use dir to find if file exists local first
vb Code:
  1. mypath = "c\test\"    ' change to suit
  2. fname = dir(mypath & "059969-501_SPEC*.*")
  3. if len(fname) > 0 then
  4.        ' shellexecute mypath & fname
  5.   else
  6.        ' find file from server and display
  7. end if

do you have FTP access to the server? if so all is simple