Preci Manufacturing, a Vermont company that was accused of selling the military untested aircraft parts, agreed to pay $150,000 in a settlement signed this week. (Facebook)
A manufacturer accused of selling the military untested aircraft parts agreed to pay the U.S. $150,000 in a settlement signed this week.
Preci Manufacturing agreed to the resolution and admitted that the company flouted safety requirements and directed employees to skip mandatory testing, a Justice Department statement Thursday said.
The Defense Logistics Agency contracted the Winooski, Vermont-based machine shop to manufacture fasteners for military aircraft from 2016 to 2019, the settlement agreement said. The contracts required the company to test the parts for durability and strength.
As part of the settlement, Preci acknowledged that it did not do these tests on some fasteners before selling them to the military but submitted claims for payment as if it had, the statement said.
“Preci’s sales to the United States of parts that it chose not to test are reprehensible, with Preci appearing to have prioritized its own profits over the safety of the products it provided to the military,” Nikolas Kerest, U.S. attorney for Vermont, said in the statement.
Prosecutors agreed to drop a lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act, according to court filings.
Preci did not dispute the accuracy of the government’s claims but argued that it had not violated the False Claims Act, which penalizes those who defraud the government.
The company agreed to let the government recoup any overpayment as part of the contract.
The settlement is at least the second this week involving the Defense Logistics Agency.
On Wednesday, California-based American States Utility Services agreed to pay $600,000 to settle claims that it sent inflated price estimates and overcharged the agency, a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia said.
The company had been contracted by the Defense Logistics Agency to work on water and sewer projects at military installations in North Carolina from 2016 to 2017, the statement said.
