Summer ammunition buys for Government Agencies may cause shortages

A review of recent contract requests and awards proved to demonstrate the Government, in the middle of a financial crisis, is buying up ammunition to beat the end of the fiscal year, which end 30 September.

The normal suspect, the Department of Homeland Security, has been put on a stool in the corner by the US Congress, but not the other agencies. In fact, one agency left the necessary clauses in the requests blank, leaving room for error and fraud.

And one American company smells the green with nearly being awarded 100,000 in contracts. In fact, only one company has won ammunition contracts in the last two weeks.

All solicitations can be found below with hyperlinks.

Starting with the Bureau of Prisons request that was awarded 17 July, for 30,000 .308 boat tail ammunition.  The contract was worth $23,300 and was won by A2Z Supply of Stevensville Montana.

You may recall the article I wrote, More sniper ammunition being ordered by DHS. Who are the targets? where the DHS had requested 176,000 rounds of the exact ammunition being ordered by the BOP.  But the Prison Industrial Complex, like any other raging machine, will never be satisfied. Today, they awarded A2Z over $40,000 to provide 170,000 rounds of 9 mm. You know the kind of rounds you use for your Glocks? Currently, there are two more solicitations that have yet to be awarded for another 205,000 rounds of 9 mm, and 60,000 rounds of .223 rounds.  We will fill you in with those results later.

A solicitation for BOP/FCC Victorville raises some serious ethical questions, and Contract Specialist Sean Hemstedt should be asked to resign if he cannot come up with a good reason for the omissions.

In all RFQ/RFP/RFI, there is a section for Contract Clauses, List of Attachments, and Solicitation Provisions. Typically, these are the sections which demand interested parties officially state their compliance with Federal Law regarding human trafficking, statement of being an American corporation, and things of this nature. But the solicitation fails to offer the legal protection of our money either going overseas, or the BOP receiving grey or black market materials.

In fact, the solicitation states:

This cover letter precedes a solicitation package prepared by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Contracting Office, for the provisions of 9MM & .223 Ammunition, Fiscal year 2013 for the Federal Correction Complex (FCC), Victorville, California. This package contains all necessary information to submit a quote.

In submitting a quote, quotes should consider all information herein. Please carefully follow all instructions located in the solicitation package concerning the content, format, and submission of quotes.

This needs to be examined immediately.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs placed an order of .40 caliber, 5.56 NATO, the RSL12 Star Slug, and the 12 Gauge RIO Royal Buckshot – and awarded it A2Z Corporation for a mere $8500.

If you’ve never heard of the RSL12 Star Slug, the manufacturer, RIO Ammo markets the ammunition as:

Available in both standard and low recoil options comes one of the most precise slugs currently available, combining great power and regularity. A lead projectile and plastic wad are used to sustain accurate trajectories. This cartridge carries its game hunting legacy into lethal and barrier breaching applications for law enforcement.

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