Company charged with supplying faulty parts for Navy subs
A Pennsylvania subcontractor has been charged with defrauding the government by supplying critical metal parts for submarines that did not meet Navy specifications.
The parts were intended for use in Virginia-class subs, which are made by Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Newport News shipyard in partnership with Electric Boat Corp. of Groton, Conn.
According to papers filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors in Philadelphia, Bristol Alloys Inc. and its president, James R. Bullick, fraudulently certified that parts critical to the submarines’ integrity had been heat-treated when they had not been. A phone number listed for the Fairless Hills, Pa., company is no longer in service.
Spokesmen for the Navy and the U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia would not say Wednesday whether any of the disputed parts have been installed in submarines or whether there are safety implications for the subs and their crews.
A Northrop Grumman spokeswoman also declined to comment.
Bristol Alloys, a metal parts broker, was a third-tier subcontractor in a chain of companies contracted to build 14 subs for $22.7 billion. Bristol Alloys sold parts to Garvey Precision Machine Inc. of Willingboro, N.J., a subcontractor to Northrop-Grumman.
The fraud allegations involve such parts as snorkel hoist pipes, piston tailrods and tailrod bushings.
Bristol Alloys is alleged to have submitted fraudulent heating test certifications indicating that the parts had been heat-treated when they had not been.