http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051702282.html
Coast Guard Seeks Deepwater Refund
Problematic Patrol Boats to Be Scrapped
By Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 18, 2007; D03
The Coast Guard said yesterday that it will seek damages from
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for eight failed patrol boats
that have come to exemplify the problems with its $24 billion
modernization effort.
The service is seeking a refund for a project to convert 110-foot
patrol boats into 123-foot vessels as part of its so-called Deepwater
program. The Coast Guard initially planned to upgrade 49 patrol boats
but stopped in 2005 after eight had been completed and problems
developed in their hulls and decks. At that time, the eight boats,
converted at a cost of about $80 million, were put on restrictive
duty that forbade them operating in waves higher than eight feet.
Last year, after finding more problems, the Coast Guard took those
eight boats out of service, and it recently said the boats could not
be salvaged and would be scrapped.
The problems were present when the Coast Guard accepted the vessels,
but they could not have been discovered by a reasonable inspection,
Pamela Bible, a Coast Guard contracting officer, said in a letter to
the contractors yesterday. "The physical integrity of the 123 [foot]
cutters has been compromised to such a degree the performance
specifications under the contract cannot be achieved and sustained,"
Bible said.
The letter argued that the Coast Guard's own studies attributed the
problems to flaws in Lockheed and Northrop's design and said the
companies had not provided their own assessment despite saying months
ago that they would. "Since the Government has not received any
analysis that would effectively exculpate [the contractors] for these
hull and alignment problems, the Government must now revoke our prior
acceptance in the interest of timeliness," the letter said. The
letter said the Coast Guard had not yet determined the amount it is due.
Bethesda-based Lockheed and Northrop, which operate the Coast Guard's
Deepwater program under a joint venture known as Integrated Coast
Guard Systems, are still evaluating the letter, ICGS spokeswoman
Margaret Mitchell-Jones said in a statement.
The announcement comes as the Coast Guard attempts to revamp
Deepwater, a program to modernize and upgrade the service's ships and
boats over the next 25 years. The program has faced criticism for
cost overruns, delays and technical problems with the patrol boats
and other vessels, which have attracted the attention of Congress.
Last month, the Coast Guard said it would take over leadership of
Deepwater, attempting to defuse complaints that Lockheed and Northrop
had been given too much leeway to run the program.
"I applaud the Coast Guard for taking this critically important step
to recoup millions of dollars wasted by the contractor," Sen. Maria
Cantwell (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Senate subcommittee that
oversees the Coast Guard, said in a statement. "We must continue to
hold [the contractors] responsible for these flawed ships that fall
far short of contract requirements. Taxpayers should not get stuck
with this bill. We will keep on this issue until we fix Deepwater."
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/3CB2FF347F985A02862572DF000B0C83?OpenDocument
DEFENSE: Coast Guard demands refund for faulty ships
05/18/2007
The Coast Guard on Thursday demanded a refund for eight faulty ships
built jointly by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman as part of a
much-criticized, multibillion-dollar fleet modernization.
Rear Adm. Gary Blore told a House hearing that the Coast Guard was
"frustrated and disappointed" by structural problems in eight
123-foot patrol boats that were permanently decommissioned last month.
The Coast Guard last month said it lost between $30 million and $60
million on the eight cutters.
Here is the Coast Guard press announcement on the Deepwater DooDoo
and the political patches they are putting on the program.
http://www.uscg.mil/top/downloads/video/DeepWaterNews.MPG
http://www.uscg.mil/top/downloads/video/DeepWaterNewsQA.MPG
The real icing-on-the-cake that nobody seems to notice is that both
Lockheed are Northrop are both criminal organizations, and both have
repeatedly been found guilty of defrauding the government, bribery,
blackmail, theft, filing false claims, etc. Here are some of the more
notable cases, but between the two companies there are over 100
cases. The two companies came together to form ICGS (Integrated Coast
Guard Systems) which acted as the front for the two companies (who
both are convicted felons).
Given the two companies proven history of criminal fraud, of multiple
serious felony convictions, and of dozens of civil cases of
procurement fraud, and fraud regarding government contracts perhaps
the Coast Guard should explain who got paid off to get the two
companies this multi-billion dollar contract. Yeah, sure this is "an
accident"... yeah, and those 43 bases in Cuba have nothing to do with
eavesdropping on Key West Miami, Tampa, and the entire south-east
quadrant of the United States.
Northrop Grumman Defense $17,000,000 Pled Guilty, 2/27/1990
Allegedly ?falsified test results and falsely claimed that required
tests had been performed on a navigational device manufactured for
cruise missiles purchase by the Government.? United States v
Northrop, Docket #89-CR-303, US DC CD CA (Criminal) Taxpayers
Against Fraud (TAF) Quarterly Review Volume 14 July 1998; Defense
Contract Litigation Reporter 06/18/90; Defense Contracting:
Contractor Claims for Legal Costs Associated with Stockholder
Lawsuits, GAO/NSIAD-95-66 (July 1995)
Northrop Grumman
--Grumman Defense $20,000 Pled Guilty, 3/16/1990
"Procurement Fraud" (Criminal) Defense Contracting: Contractor
Claims for Legal Costs Associated with Stockholder Lawsuits,
GAO/NSIAD-95-66 (July 1995)
Northrop Grumman
--Litton Defense $3,900,000 Pled Guilty, 1/14/1994
Pled guilty to charges of "conspiracy to defraud the government, wire
fraud and converting procurement data." (Criminal) Defense
Contracting: Contractor Claims for Legal Costs Associated with
Stockholder Lawsuits, GAO/NSIAD-95-66 (July 1995); Federal News
Service 1/17/1994
Northrop Grumman
--Litton (Systems Canada) Defense $8,882,700 Pled Guilty, 6/30/1999
Pled guilty to accusations of "concealment of commissions paid to
consultants who helped obtain contracts to obtain military sales to
foreign governments ... and LSL pleaded guilty to additional charges
of mail fraud and causing a false statement to be made by the
U.S." (Criminal) Senator Harkin and Representative DeFazio Press
Release 06/07/00; Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General Press
Release 07/01/99 - 07/15/99; US Attorneys Office CD CA Press Release
06/30/99 and 10/25/99; DOD IG Semiannual Report to Congress 04/01/99
Northrop Grumman
--Litton (Applied Technology) Defense $8,881,900 Pled Guilty, 6/30/1999
Pled guilty to accusations of "concealment of commissions paid to
consultants who helped obtain contracts to obtain military sales to
foreign governments ... ." (Criminal) Senator Harkin and
Representative DeFazio Press Release 06/07/00; Department of Defense
(DOD) Inspector General Press Release 07/01/99 - 07/15/99; US
Attorneys Office CD CA Press Releases 06/30/99 and 10/25/99; DOD IG
Semiannual Report to Congress 04/01/9
Q: How many times has Grumman been found guilty of procurement fraud
and received civil sanctions or fines (A: several dozens time)
Lockheed Martin --Aeronautical Systems Defense $21,800,000 Pled
Guilty, 1/27/1995
Allegations that ?Lockheed and its executives paid bribes to an
official of the Egyptian government to sell C-130 aircraft to
Egypt.? United States v Lockheed, Suliman A. Nassar and Allen R.
Love, Docket #94-CR-226-ALL, US DC ND GA (Criminal) Senator Harkin
and Representative DeFazio Press Release 06/07/00; Department of
Defense (DOD) Inspector General Report of Investigation 07/02/92
(FOIA); Court Docket; US Dept of Commerce Anti-bribery Provisions of
the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Pay no attention to the long range missiles at San Antonio de los
Banos, and those Fulcrums in Cuba certainly present no issues in
regards to weapons that we should be concerned with, and of course
the brothers Castro have never expressed their intention to turn
Florida into a molten sea of glass at the slightest provocation.
It is comforting to know that not only was the Coast Guard letting
the two convicted felons run the entire Deepwater program worth tens
of billions of dollars, but that they were willingly, and knowingly
letting the Lockheed and Northrop sodomize every member of the Coast
Guard while the senior leadership of the Coast Guard stood by and
glad-handed the two contractors and just kept tossing more, and more
money at them. Points to the Coasties if they can explain why Cuba
has at least four TU-22ME alert pads and bunkers near Santa Clara,
and why those seven axle trucks in the Sierra Maestra mountains are
not hauling produce to market.
Yep, and those Shaanxi Y-8/AN-12 with a warts on the belly that seem
to take to the air on a regular basis durign ferret runs would have
nothing to do with the Coast Guard having one of the weakest TEMPEST
and TSCM programs in the military, and that the Coast Guard has a
long history of getting into long chases with lots of classified
communications... no, that couldn't be a problem.
It is nice to know that the senior leadership of the Coast Guard
cares so little for the Coastguardsman under their command that they
would rather hand money over to someone who is on the same level as a
Columbian drug lord.
-jma
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:27 CST