Army Procurement: FMC's Quality Controls and Pricing Practices on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

摘要

Former employees of FMC Corporation, the builder of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, have alleged that FMC inflated the prices of spare parts and knowingly designed and produced a faulty vehicle. Representative Barbara Boxer requested GAO to determine whether (1) FMC had inflated spare parts prices that were entered into the Army Master Data File, which lists the individual parts that make up the Bradley; (2) the Army had paid the spare parts prices in the Army Master Data File; and (3) FMC had knowingly delivered Bradleys to the Army with defective parts. Representative Boxer also asked GAO to determine whether there were government and contractor internal controls to identify problems with the quality of the vehicles. There are two models of the Bradley: the infantry fighting vehicle and the cavalry fighting vehicle. The infantry vehicle's mission is to support tanks by suppressing enemy infantry and lightly armored vehicles, and the cavalry vehicle's mission is to serve as a reconnaissance scout vehicle for armored cavalry units. The spare parts prices developed by FMC and entered into the Army's Master Data File were often estimates that had little relationship to the actual cost of the spare parts. However, the Army did not use the prices in the Master Data File as a basis for negotiating the spare parts prices with FMC. Rather, the Army negotiated the prices with FMC based on FMC's costs or pricing data. GAO did not perform pricing reviews of the spare parts contracts. However, GAO has performed such reviews on Bradley production contracts and has identified significant overpricing.