Pentagon to Act Against Some in Defense Scandal : U.S. Could Ban Firms and Individuals From Any Future Contracts

More than two dozen firms and individuals whose names have emerged in the defense procurement scandal will be reviewed for possible disciplinary action, ranging up to a permanent ban on future Defense Department business, Pentagon sources said Monday.

Most of the companies and individuals named in federal court indictments and plea agreements Friday will be cited, including the electronics unit of Teledyne, which was charged last week with bribery and fraud in connection with the purchase of testing gear for the Navy and Air Force.

Several other firms and persons tied to the investigation in recently released search warrant affidavits will also face the new Pentagon scrutiny.

Announcement of the action is expected today.

Denied Wrongdoing

In addition, the Navy took the first steps toward cutting off all future Navy contracts for high-powered defense consultants William Galvin and Melvyn R. Paisley, said to be among key targets of the federal investigation.

Committees of the Navy, Air Force and Defense Logistics Agencies have been asked to review the companies and the individuals to determine whether their actions in attempting to win Pentagon contracts warrant suspension or permanent debarment from future business.

Until the panels’ rule, however, the companies will be allowed to bid on future work. Suspensions and debarments can be appealed in civil courts.

Nearly all the firms and individuals involved have denied wrongdoing in connection with the “Ill Wind” investigation into corruption in the military’s $150-billion-a-year procurement program.

One of the companies referred to the Navy’s debarment committee, Hazeltine Inc., pleaded guilty Friday to fraud charges and agreed to pay $1.9 million in fines and costs for its role in hiring a consultant to obtain confidential bidding information from a Navy purchasing official.

A Teledyne spokesman said Monday that the Los Angeles company would have no comment on any Defense Department punishment until it is announced. Teledyne said Friday that it would defend itself against the government’s charges and that it expects to be acquitted.

Among others facing suspension or debarment, sources said, are consultants William L. Parkin, Fred H. Lackner, Thomas Muldoon, Bill Sanda, Mark Saunders, William Beckmeier and Bernard Zip; companies including a unit of Unisys Corp., the Norden Systems division of United Technologies Corp., Executive Resource Associates, M.E.T. Associates, ORI Corp. and TCASY Corp., and retired Navy official Jean Uebele.

Galvin, whose home and office were searched last summer, is alleged in the newly released government affidavits to have paid Air Force official Victor Cohen $15,000 for inside Pentagon data in late 1981 and early 1982.

In 1987 and 1988, the affidavits allege, Galvin paid for a telephone to be installed in Cohen’s car and told an acquaintance that he would provide for Cohen’s child-support payments. During that period, Cohen allegedly provided “information and influence” for Galvin’s clients on Air Force programs.

Paisley, a former assistant Navy secretary and the highest-ranking former Pentagon official named as a subject of the investigation, is described in one document as acting improperly to change bidding rules on a Navy contract to favor Northrop Corp., whom Parkin represented as a consultant.

Consultant Beckmeier, whose office was searched by agents after the inquiry became public last summer, is alleged in the court documents to have received improper assistance from Parkin when Parkin was a Pentagon official.

Weekly Checks Alleged

Uebele, a former Pentagon official who had not been named previously in the investigation, is alleged in the court documents to have cooperated with Parkin, her former Navy Department colleague, in schemes to trade data for money.

Uebele, who worked as a contract negotiator in the Joint Cruise Missile Office until retiring last July, is alleged to have passed documents to Parkin in exchange for biweekly $50 checks payable to “Smith’s Maid Service.”

Named in one affidavit are ERA executives Robert Mourges and Paul Peterson, who also may be subject to possible debarment.

Bernard Zip allegedly worked with Parkin in a scheme to sell inside Pentagon information about a $70-million Marine Corps project to the companies bidding on the project, according to the affidavit. It also says Zip made overtures to Ford Aerospace at Parkin’s behest and of receiving information about the Advanced Tactical Air Command Central program from him, but ceased to work with Parkin after the two had a disagreement.

ORI Corp. of Rockville, Md., which, like Zip, had not previously been named in the investigation, allegedly made secret payments of at least $10,000 to Parkin in an effort to restore funding for a Pentagon contract to build sonar buoys, according to the recently released affidavit.