Pentagon Criticized for Armor Contracts

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Pentagon Criticized for Armor Contracts

By RICHARD LARDNERandANNE FLAHERTY 07.11.07, 2:29 PM ET

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 schedule, 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 dollars awarded
since 2000 to Force Protection (nasdaq: FRPT), Inc., and Armor
Holdings (nyse: AH), Inc.

The auditors found several contracts issued by the Marine Corps
on a sole-source basis to Force Protection even though it knew
there were other manufacturers that might have supplied the
vehicles in a more timely fashion.

-snip-

The inspector general's report, however, concludes otherwise.
It says the company "did not perform as a responsible contractor
and repeatedly failed to meet contractual delivery schedules for
getting the vehicles the theater."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/11/ap3904443.html

[denverbill]

1. Michael Aldrich, Marketing and Government Relations officer of Force Protection.

Heavy, heavy Republican contributor. THousands to Lindsay Graham over the years.

Wonder why they got the contract? </sarcasm>

[DFW]

2. He can be thankful he didn't do work for the Chinese

His will would already be in the process of being read by now.

[RamboLiberal]

3. Contractors failed to deliver armored vehicles

Source: MSNBC\AP

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.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19714632/

[Miss Chybil]

4. Nothing shocks me anymore. nt

[GETPLANING]

5. I am a Force Protection Shareholder

The reason the DOD gave the MRAP contracts to Force Protection is that no other company builds anything that even comes close to Force Protection's design and build quality. Their primary function is to withstand the blasts from IEDs, mines, and RPGs that have killed so many troops in IRaq and Afghanistan. To date, only TWO soldiers have died in our vehicles.
Force Protection builds three mine resistant, ambush protected vehicles (MRAP). The Buffalo, a mine clearing vehicle, the Cougar, a mine resistant troop carrier, and the Cheetah, a mine resistant replacement for the Humvee. Force Protection is partnering with Armor Holdings and General Dynamics to roll out the vehicles as fast as possible.
I must sound like a PR guy from Force Protection, but I assure you I'm not. I normally don't invest in defense stocks, but this is a company I can believe in. If Bush is going to keep our brave men and women in his fucking war for political capital, at least I want them riding around in something that won't get them killed.

http://www.forceprotection.net/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef81qVH4n2k

[benh57]

6. not quality

Your statement contradicts what the government is saying, then.

"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."

They failed to meet the time constraint.

How many have died due to not having had any protection during the time period between when the MRAPs were supposed to be supplied and when they actually were?

Good, Fast, Cheap - pick any two.

Fast is the most important right now since they just need something.

[GETPLANING]

8. Force Protection partners with General Dynamics

This relationship was intended to bring the capital and manufacturing resources of America's third largest defense contractor to manufacturing this new type of vehicle as quickly as possible. Armor Holdings is a subcontractor building the Cougar under license. Exactly the same kind of leveraging that got the B-17 and B-24 produced in large numbers.
One thing the government conveniently omits in its complaint is that they waited years to begin placing the orders for MRAP vehicles, mainly because they are VERY expensive. With Rumsfeld trying to run the war on the cheap, the Republican Congress wasn't eager to order big ticket items. Remember the complaints from the troops themselves about lack of armored vehicles? It wasn't because they weren't being built, it was because they weren't being ordered.
One last thing, the MRAP concept is relatively new to war zone equipment. Israel and South Africa were the first countries to develop them, starting about ten years ago, but their designs are not able to withstand the blasts of newer, more powerful mines and IEDs. There are some of them over there, but they are getting blown to bits.

[RamboLiberal]

7. Yeah but in WWII Air Corp didn't say only Boeing could

build the B-17 or Consolidated the B-24. The building of these planes was contracted out to a variety of companies and even competitors so vast quantities could be built. So you telling me Force Protection is only one who could produce their vehicles? Look what Ford managed in WWII in less time in making B-24s. As I've said before I'm glad these idiots weren't in charge during WWII. If this bunch was serious why not contract out the making of the Force Protection vehicles to idle auto plants and idle auto workers? Or even build a new factory. Hell we put up huge factories in WWII in a very short time frame. Remember last year we already passed the time it took to fight and win WWII.

The Pearl Harbor attack of December 7,1941 finally brought the United States into the war and production of the B-17 rapidly increased. By July 1942, the US began forming the Eighth Air Force in Britain, equipped with B-17Es. The 'E' represented an important improvement over the earlier B-17s, in that it had a tail turret, eliminating a previous defensive blind spot. Production of the B-17F was undertaken by Douglas and Vega, a subsidiary of the Lockheed Aircraft Corp., but modifications were taking their toll in airspeed. There were more than four hundred modifications on the B-17F.8 The B-17F, now armed with eleven .50-cal. guns, could only reach 299 mph (481 km/h), but landing speed was up to 90 mph (144 km/h)! Service ceiling was 37,500 ft. (11,430 m) and range 2,880 miles (4,634 km). It took twenty-five and a half minutes to climb to 20,000 ft. (6,096 m). Three thousand, four hundred B-17Fs were produced by the three companies.

http://www.aviation-history.com/boeing/b17.html

Liberator production increased at an astonishing rate through 1942 and 1943: Consolidated had tripled the size of its plant at San Diego and built a large new plant outside Fort Worth, Texas. More production came from Douglas in Tulsa, Oklahoma and North American was building a plant at Dallas, Texas. None of these were minor operations, but they were dwarfed by the vast new greenfield factory built by Ford at Willow Run near Detroit, which opened in August 1942. This was the largest factory in the United States, and the largest anywhere outside the USSR. Each of the B-24 Factories were identified with the following production code: Consolidated / San Diego (CO), Consolidated / Ft Worth (CF), Ford / Willow Run (FO), North American (NT) and Douglas, Tulsa (DT).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-24_Liberator

-----

On Oct. 1, 1942, the first plane was completed and christened "The Spirit of Ypsilanti." Its $300,000 cost was paid for with a fund-raising drive by the townspeople of Ypsilanti, who bought war bonds and stamps. Contributors were issued buttons bearing the bomber's Winged V insignia, designed by Jean Ohlinger, a 17-year-old junior at Ypsilanti High School. A hangar at Willow Run was turned into a barracks for Army personnel brought in to fly out the newly built bombers. Off-duty soldiers can be seen sprawled on some of the 1,300 cots.

By December a total of 107 bombers had been offered to the Army Air Corps, but only 56 were acceptable. Part of the problem was that, as in the auto industry, the plant was using hard steel dies instead of the softer dies more conducive to the multiple changes demanded by the aircraft industry. In the first year alone there were 575 changes required.

Gradually though, the problems were ironed out. Workers were brought in from the South. Women were hired. Housing went up. At its peak, in June 1943, the plant had 42,331 workers. More than 3,000 were hired on a single day in July 1943. By August of 1943, production was up to 231 planes a month. By the end of that year, Willow Run was producing 365 B-24's a month and at the end of 1944, 650 were rolling off the line every month. By 1945, Ford was making 70 percent of all B-24's, in two shifts a day of nine hours each.

The B-24 contained 100,000 parts, as opposed to the 15,000 needed in a 1940 automobile, and the manpower needs were tremendous. Men were enlisting in the armed forces to fight overseas, and workers were in short supply.

The war office speeded up the hiring of women, by ordering Ford to hire 12,000 at Willow Run. By October of 1943, there were 140,000 women in the defense industry. Willow Run hired 117 in one week. They received the same wage rates as the men, from 95 cents to $1.60 an hour.

http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=73&category=locations

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

9. Amazing what happens when profit ain't the bottom line.

Things actually get done.