Let's suppose you run a factory and you get a contract to build helmets out of Kevlar, a polymer thread used in bulletproof vests and such. You supply the military with a couple of million helmets, many of which are used in combat. What you don't bother to mention is that you cut manufacturing costs (and therefore increase your profits) by deliberately using less Kevlar than is required by Pentagon standards. And to get the under-protected helmets up to the proper weight, you lard them up with extra resin, which makes them more brittle. Which makes them break more easily. Which is bad.
In fact, you're pretty sure that soldiers wearing your product in a war zone are being injured or even killed, and your quality assurance officer knows it. "If we ever got audited," she admits candidly, "you know what they would do to us. Shut us down and fine us big time. Probably never see another government contract."
You'd think that once the scam is detected, you'd be tarred and feathered, right?
Wrong.
You see, this actually happened. Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, North Dakota got the contract to build helmets for use in Iraq and Afghanistan but skimped on the Kevlar. Pentagon specifications require a weaving of 35 by 35 threads per square inch, but Sioux used 34x34 or even less. Doesn't sound like much, but the under-weaving makes the helmets a lot less effective. And "good enough for government work" isn't very comforting when the result is all that stands between your skull and a bullet, or a piece of shrapnel from a bomb explosion.
When the scheme came to light, the Justice Department took Sioux to court and the company agreed to pay a $2 million fine to settle the case.
And then the Pentagon turned around and gave Sioux another contract, worth $74 million, to build more helmets. No word yet on whether they'll actually do it right this time.
This is truly reprehensible. The same people who knowingly put our men and women in harm's way are given another chance to do the same thing all over again while making more profit.
Once again, we see how our mercenary-minded Pentagon supports the troops.
In fact, you're pretty sure that soldiers wearing your product in a war zone are being injured or even killed, and your quality assurance officer knows it. "If we ever got audited," she admits candidly, "you know what they would do to us. Shut us down and fine us big time. Probably never see another government contract."
You'd think that once the scam is detected, you'd be tarred and feathered, right?
Wrong.
You see, this actually happened. Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, North Dakota got the contract to build helmets for use in Iraq and Afghanistan but skimped on the Kevlar. Pentagon specifications require a weaving of 35 by 35 threads per square inch, but Sioux used 34x34 or even less. Doesn't sound like much, but the under-weaving makes the helmets a lot less effective. And "good enough for government work" isn't very comforting when the result is all that stands between your skull and a bullet, or a piece of shrapnel from a bomb explosion.
When the scheme came to light, the Justice Department took Sioux to court and the company agreed to pay a $2 million fine to settle the case.
And then the Pentagon turned around and gave Sioux another contract, worth $74 million, to build more helmets. No word yet on whether they'll actually do it right this time.
This is truly reprehensible. The same people who knowingly put our men and women in harm's way are given another chance to do the same thing all over again while making more profit.
Once again, we see how our mercenary-minded Pentagon supports the troops.
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