Last year former Lockheed Martin engineer Mike DeKort alleged that the firm had botched electronics work on eight Coast Guard patrol boats. Subsequent cracking in the boats' hulls after work by Northrop Grumman resulted in the Coast Guard cancelling Lockheed's and Northrop's shared contract to manage the service's $24-billion "Deepwater" equipment buy. The hull crack controversy stole the limelight, effectively sidelining DeKort. But recent correspondence between the Coast Guard and the companies, leaked to the press, confirms DeKort's allegations, as I reported over at World Politics Review:
*On May 17, Coast Guard contracting officer Pamela Bible wrote to ICGS recalling the boats' problems and informing ICGS that the service had formally revoked its acceptance of the vessels. [Integrated Coast Guard Systems, eg Lockheed and Northrop] Director of Contracts Kevin J. O'Neill replied in writing on May 23 saying the ICGS did not recognize the government's right to revoke the acceptance. Bible's reply, on June 5, dropped a bomb: "In addition to the hull buckling and shaft alignment problems identified in the May 17 letter, the revocation is also based on . . . class-wide issues, including non-conforming topside equipment." *
The language was vague but, according to Michael DeKort, "topside equipment" probably referred to the very electronics he had criticized in news reports and before Congress. "We went from 'All the allegations have no merit,' to 'We're negotiating.' I think it's the beginning of the unraveling," DeKort says.
The "unraveling" DeKort refers to is already pretty advanced. Lockheed and Northrop have been fired as systems integrators, the patrol boats have been decommissioned and the Coast Guard has sued for a refund. Deepwater is continuing, but at a slower pace, with more modest goals and more government oversight.
Related:
Coast Guard slams contractors
Coast Guard teams with Navy
Coast Guard sinking
