by Daniel Duric, for the Newport Dispatch
NEWPORT — Galvion, Ltd., a defense contractor with a production facility in Newport, has agreed to pay $2,495,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly selling non-conforming parts to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced.
Galvion, headquartered in Montreal, Canada, manufactures protective head systems for use by law enforcement and military personnel, including the U.S. military. The company’s products include the modular suspension system (MSS), a helmet insert.
The government’s investigation revealed that between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2019, Galvion used non-domestic sources for pads, nets, and harnesses in MSS products sold through the Defense Logistics Agency’s Special Operational Equipment Tailored Logistic Support Program, which requires textiles to be sourced from the United States in accordance with the Berry Amendment.
Galvion has acknowledged that employees with oversight of material sourcing, product operations, and/or product sales during this period were aware of the sourcing requirements but nevertheless used non-compliant components.
United States Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest emphasized the seriousness of fraud by government contractors.
“By selling improperly sourced products to the military, the company placed profits over compliance with clear regulations,” Kerest said. “This settlement demonstrates that the United States Attorney’s Office will continue to root out fraud among companies who do business with the government.”
During the period in question, the MSS was a product of Revision Military Ltd.; in September 2019, Revision’s owner sold the company and certain product lines but retained the protective head system business, which thereafter operated as Galvion.
To resolve the claims against it, Galvion has agreed to pay the United States a total of $2,495,000, reflecting the company’s acceptance of responsibility, cooperation with the government investigation, and compliance measures implemented after 2019.
The settlement agreement was the result of a joint investigation by the United States Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, stemming from a complaint made to the DLA Hotline related to the origin of materials used in the company’s MSS products.
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of course they were doing business in vermont////
Of course, this type of action by defense contractors is not new. These frauds date back to the shyster contractors who used heavily oiled and painted cardboard to substitute for leather shoes, straps and cartridge boxes issued to Union Soldiers during the Civil War–they fell apart on the first rainy day the soldiers experienced in the field. Screwing those who serve in America’s military is damned near an American tradition. For those in my generation who served in Vietnam, I need only point to C-Ration canned Ham and Lima Beans (Ham and Mother—). Not quality food for US Soldiers; even the enemy wouldn’t eat them.
Fining Galvion, LTD, nearly $2,500,000 is a good start. But rather than having the recovered money go back to an equally greedy and incompetent US government, divide the money up among the US Service Members who were issued and wore this often shoddy equipment. Then bar the company from doing business in Vermont…
I wonder if those components were of better quality than the USA-sourced ones? Just a question. It could be they had a conscience and wanted whoever wore the helmet to have the best. Or it could be like the government says. But the education system in the USA has failed, there is no doubt. What do we make of high quality nowadays under the new totalitarian socialism/fascism we live under? Not much…corn? soybeans? There is no motivating factor to produce quality anymore since equity came to town.