Body armor again called to account - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Body armor again called to account

A Defense Department Inspector General report said it could provide only “limited assurance” that Interceptor Body Armor vest components meet ballistic and quality requirements.

Army officials say there is no recall or cause for alarm. But the Jan. 3 report, the fourth in less than three years that has been critical of the body armor program, cites five key failures by the Army, which “did not consistently enforce ballistic testing requirements.”

Col. William Cole, project manager of Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment, emphasized that Army body armor has never failed to stop a threat for which it is rated, and often outperforms its rating.

“I am confident we are fielding the best possible body armor,” Cole said.

The 53-page IG report, which did not include its own ballistic tests, does not refute this. Instead, it focuses on whether the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Acquisition Center; Program Executive Office Soldier and Defense Contract Management Agency followed test procedures and provided quality assurance for six Interceptor Body Armor contracts.

The contracts are valued at $434 million and were awarded to Point Blank Body Armor Inc. The company produced 1,248,651 modular body armor systems that include an outer tactical vest, ceramic plates and other components. The body armor entered inventory between 2003 and 2006, and is part of outer tactical vests no longer used in combat.

Investigators’ first point of contention was that a technical director lowered test requirements after three of the 35 internal tests had not achieved minimum velocity requirements. Cole said the change was necessary because average velocity requirements had been substituted for minimum requirements. Industry experts said the subsequent ballistic requirements were not attainable and would result in fielding delays, excessive quantity of reject products and likely contract default.

The IG report accepted the reasoning, but called the timing questionable, as the change came 20 months after the initial failure.

The IG report also took issue with a decision to forgo accelerated aging tests on all five contracts. The chief scientist at Program Manager for Soldier Equipment, or PM SEQ, told investigators the test is for rubbery material and not intended for the Kevlar and Twaron used in the vest components. The IG said PM SEQ revised the contract purchase description eight times through March 13, 2007, and had “ample opportunity to remove the accelerated aging test requirement.” PEO Soldier later confirmed that the accelerated aging test was and still is required.

The third hit concerned PM SEQ accepting 70 lots of the Deltoid and Axillary Protector without conducting first article tests. These pieces cover the shoulder and fit under the armpit. The Army approved these lots because the material was already tested and approved, Cole said. It was from the pieces left after front and rear panels had been cut out of 24x30-foot sheets.

“We did a risk assessment, and decided to expedite this body armor to the war fighter,” Cole said, adding that the increased use and effectiveness of improvised explosive devices was a key factor in the decision. “The bolts of cloth in question had already been tested … and the rapid pace of fielding helped prevent further injuries or deaths.”

Call for further testing

The IG said further ballistic testing was necessary to determine whether the additional plies would have any impact on the ballistic performance. This omission left “limited assurance” that the first 66,430 DAPs, with a value of $18.9 million, would meet requirements.

The fourth hit came when the Army failed to conduct lot acceptance tests on 340 of 900 lots, or 38 percent. The service was required to test a certain number of items from each lot — five of every 1,200 outer tactical vests and six of every 2,400 DAPs, for example. But PM SEQ did not require the three-phased test for 170,417 DAPs and 117,560 yokes and collars — valued at a combined $59 million — again because the materials had been previously approved and because the manner to test some items did not exist at the time. Officials also accepted 11,094 retrofit vests, valued at about $2 million, without the tests.

Investigators said they “could not verify whether the ballistic performance for the 11,094 retrofit OTVs met the contract requirements,” and said there was no evidence of proper surveillance.

Finally, the IG said personnel with Defense Contract Management Agency Orlando “did not use a proper random sampling methodology that provided a representative sample. … As a result, the [lot acceptance test] results cannot be relied upon to project whether an entire lot met the contract requirements.” In addition, 693 of 900 lots, or 75 percent, lacked quality inspection records. Some were destroyed by Hurricane Wilma, while others were maintained for only two years. Quality surveillance records are supposed to be kept for six years and three months.

While the report is critical of prior procedures, it also commends the agencies for corrective actions “that should reduce the risk that the conditions identified in this report are repeated.” Specifically, waivers of first article and lot acceptance tests must now be approved in writing. PEO Soldier also established an executive director for quality, process and compliance. The Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Acquisition Center has designated the IOTV as a critical safety item requiring higher quality standards and future contracts will contain a more strict quality assurance requirement for lot acceptance tests.

“We now employ an abundance of caution in testing this material, and have used these audits to strengthen our processes,” Cole said.