I reported in April about the Army’s new Improved Outer Tactical Vest describing its superiority in design, construction, and fit. On May 16th there was further news, including the disappointing revelation that the Army had not let any contracts for this vest, described by the Army as quite superior to the Point Blank Interceptor vest currently fielded.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army is late in delivering newer, lighter body armor to soldiers downrange.

In April, an official with Program Executive Officer Soldier (PEO Soldier) said that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan would begin to receive the Improved Outer Tactical Vests that month.

“The Army will begin fielding the IOTV April 07 as directed by [Headquarters, Department of the Army/ Army Central Command],” said Steven Pinter in an e-mailed response to questions to Stars and Stripes last month.

But the Army has not yet awarded a contract for the new body armor, according to PEO Soldier, the Army’s development center for advanced soldier equipment.

Officials at PEO Soldier declined to comment about why no contract has been awarded.

“It is not common Army practice to discuss pending contract awards in the media,” an e-mailed response from PEO says. “As soon as contracts are in place, PEO Soldier would be pleased to conduct an interview with Stars and Stripes.”

Asked if he could say why no such contract had been awarded, Lt. Gen. Stephen Speakes, who handles Army resources issues said, “No, I can’t.”

As I noted in May,

After all, it’s only been five weeks, and Mr Bu$h and Mr Rove have been preoccupied with trying to avoid being locked up in jail for their part in the burgeoning AttorneyGate scandal (and the soon-to-be-made-public scandal involving the FBI’s ultra-secret illegal domestic program) and they haven’t been able to make the appropriate deal with a Republican Party big pocket$ donor.

Sooner or later, as is the track record with the Bu$h malAdministration, they’ll get the graft squared away, and they’ll then start paying attention to the needs of the troops. Until that time, the delay will continue to be the fault of the Democratic Congress.

NB: Only a truly cynical man would believe anyone at Bu$hCo is actually making any money off these contracts although the likelihood of generous donations to the Republican Party's various 2008 is always possible.

Stars and Stripes announced today that:

Army awards contracts for lighter body armor

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army has awarded contracts for newer, lighter body armor known as Improved Outer Tactical Vests.

The new vests weigh three pounds less than the Outer Tactical Vests that soldiers wear now and provide an additional 52 square inches of protection in the rear.
…

On Monday, the Army awarded two contracts for IOTVs: Specialty Defense Systems won a contract for 155,000 vests and Point Blank Body Armor Inc. won a contract for 75,000 vests, a PEO Soldier news release says.

In November 2005, the Army and Marine Corps recalled 18,425 sets of body armor manufactured by Point Blank because they did not meet certain ballistic criteria. The recall only affected the Outer Tactical Vests themselves, not the ballistic plates.

Prior to that, the Corps recalled another 5,277 sets of body armor made by Point Blank after a small sample of each lot failed to meet ballistic standards.

As I’ve pointed out before Point Blank Armor is a division of DHB Industries, owned by David H Brooks, your “classic deep-pockets Republican donor.”

Specialty Defense Systems is owned by Armor Holdings Aerospace and Defense Group, which has been very active in contracts supplying armor components to the military. BAE Systems Inc, one of the contractors involved in production of the Cougar MRAP, is attempting to buy Armor Holdings.