The report, not yet publicly released, also criticizes the Army’s
award of a $266 million contract for crew protection kits to Simula
Aerospace and Defense Group, a subsidiary of Armor Holdings of
Jacksonville, Fla.
Simula lacked the internal controls necessary to ensure delivery of
the kits, which were needed to make military vehicles less vulnerable
to roadside bombs and small-arms fire, according to the report.
The Army received kits “with missing and unusable components, which
increased installation time and required additional reinspection of
kits,” according to the report.
In describing the scope of the problem, the report said that some of
the Simula kits delivered to the troops had two left doors, were
missing side plates and contained brackets that needed re-welding.
Overall, the problems “resulted in increased risk to the lives of
soldiers,” the report states.
Armor Holdings received three other contracts worth $1.5 billion for
armored Humvees and armor kits to strengthen older-model vehicles.
Spokesman Michael Fox said the company had not seen the report and had
no immediate comment.
The review was requested by Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., in April
2006, after she learned the Pentagon was relying on just a few small
companies to supply bomb-resistant vehicles to troops in Iraq.
With improvised explosive devices accounting for the majority of
combat deaths and injuries, Slaughter said that strategy needed to be
examined.
“It’s been business as usual,” Slaughter said Wednesday after
reviewing the report.
“The lives of our soldiers took a back seat to who got the contracts.”
Slaughter said the report raises more questions than answers and that
she wants to know if the awards were the result of “influence peddling
or insider connections.”
From The Associated Press, 7/11/07:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19714632/
Contractors failed to deliver armored vehicles
Inspector general finds Pentagon bypassed firms that might be faster
WASHINGTON -
The Defense Department put U.S. troops in Iraq at risk by awarding
contracts for badly needed armored vehicles to companies that failed
to deliver them on time, according to a review by the Pentagon’s
inspector general.
The June 27 report, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press,
examined 15 contracts worth $2.2 billion awarded since 2000 to Force
Protection Inc. and Armor Holdings Inc.
The contracts were issued without the normal competition for
government work because the military determined these companies were
the only ones capable of supplying the vehicles fast enough to meet
the demands of deployed troops.
Yet the inspector general’s report concluded otherwise.
Overall, Force Protection of Ladson, S.C., received 11 contracts from
the Army and Marine Corps worth $417 million for a variety of
vehicles, including its Buffalo and Cougar mine-resistant trucks.
Force Protection failed to meet all delivery schedules, according to
the report, and acquisition officials knew there were other
manufacturers that might have supplied some of the vehicles in a more
timely fashion.
The report does not provide the names of those possible alternative
sources.
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Is anyone gonna hang for this?
Harry
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