Body armor contracts filled without testing

WASHINGTON – Government auditors said Wednesday that nearly half of 28 contracts to manufacture body armor for Army soldiers were completed without the gear ever going through an initial test.

Nearly $3 billion worth of body armor did not go through early inspections known as “first article testing,” or FAT, that are performed before major production to ensure that a company can meet the contract’s requirements and to catch any defects, according to a report by the Defense Department’s inspector general. Contracting officials say the initial testing is done to save time and money.

“Army contracting officials did not require or perform FAT for 13 of the 28 Army contracts and orders reviewed,” the report said. As a result, the Defense Department “has no assurance” that the equipment produced under the 13 contracts “met the required standards,” the report said.

Officials with the inspector general’s office said its auditors did not test the armor or look for flaws after it was made and put into use. The Army manager who oversees the body armor program told Defense Department officials that “the Army has no evidence of deaths that can be attributed to defective body armor.”

A spokesman for the Army said that while some paperwork may have been missing, none of the body armor had problems. “None of this equipment in all of the tests we’ve done is flawed,” said Paul Boyce, the spokesman. “It has not shown any signs of flaws.”

Defense officials conducted the audit at the request of Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-N.Y.

“This indicates that nearly half of the Army’s contractors did not perform the most basic test on the body armor before it was sent to our troops fighting overseas,” Slaughter said in a statement. “It’s shameful that the Army would not scrupulously ensure that every piece of equipment is properly tested, especially a fundamentally life and death product such as body armor.”