But then gets a $74 million contract to manufacture new helmets to replace the faulty ones they sold the federal government in the first place.

Netting them a $72 million gain, by my accounting.

A North Dakota manufacturer has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a suit saying it had repeatedly shortchanged the armor in up to 2.2 million helmets for the military, including those for the first troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Twelve days before the settlement with the Justice Department was announced, the company, Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, was given a new contract of up to $74 million to make more armor for helmets to replace the old ones, which were made from the late 1980s to last year.

Sadly, US Attorney Drew Wrigley calls this an “appropriate settlement.”

The United States attorney for North Dakota, Drew H. Wrigley, called the accord “an appropriate resolution” because the Defense Department had said that 200 sample helmets passed ballistic tests and that it “has no information of injuries or deaths due to inadequate Pasgt helmet protection.”

If even one soldier died, or was injured, because of a faulty helmet the cost was too high, and while the Defense Department has no information of such things happening that doesn’t mean they haven’t happened.

What’s worse, not only is the federal government keeping its contract with this tribal-owned manufacturer (was was pointed out in a previous post on this blog, SMC is owned by the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe) taxpayers are also footing the bill for government inspections at the plant itself to make sure the don’t rip off the taxpayers, and put our soldiers in danger, again.

Sioux upgraded its looms in 2006, company executives say, and the government says it has started inspections at the plant.

So here’s a summary:

1. SMC knowingly manufactured deficient helmets for the Defense Department (their quality assurance manager admitted as much in taped conversations).
2. The federal government wins a lawsuit against SMC over these helmets forcing them to pay $2 million.
3. The federal government then gives this dishonest manufacturer a new contract worth $74 million to replace the faulty helmets the government had bought previously and sends in government inspectors, at the taxpayer’s expense, to make sure the Defense Department isn’t ripped off again.

Anyone else seeing a problem with this picture?  Anyone else wondering why the federal government can’t do business with a company that won’t rip the taxpayers off?

Anyone else wondering if the fact that this company is tribally-owned has won it special favors and considerations from the government?  And, most importantly, who is wondering about which of our politicians was involved in smoothing this all over for SMC?