Military Contractor to Pay $426K for Using Foreign Parts in Products

A Vermont military contractor will pay nearly half a million dollars to settle allegations that it used some foreign-sourced materials in certain protective eyewear it sold when it was required to use all domestic parts, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for Vermont.

Revision Military Ltd., in Essex Junction, Vermont, used a foreign source of carrying pouches, cases and straps for particular eyewear sold through a defense program that requires textile components be sourced in the United States, federal prosecutors said on Monday. The foreign parts were used between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2020, and the company will pay $426,000 in the settlement, prosecutors said Monday.

A federal law known as the Berry Amendment requires the government to give preference to products made and sourced in America.

“In selling products that it knew to be non-compliant, Revision violated the trust placed in government contractors in furtherance of its own bottom line,” said Nikolas Kerest, U.S. attorney for Vermont, in a statement.

Revision, which sold its protective eyewear business in 2019, denied liability and said there were no damages to the government because the eyewear products performed as intended. It said in a statement that it takes such compliance issues seriously.

“In this spirit, the settlement agreement formally documents the government crediting Revision’s new ownership and management team for self-initiating improved compliance measures, for replacing former employees who were responsible for overseeing such compliance issues, and for cooperating with the government investigation,” the company said in a statement.