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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of Inspector General
Washington, D.C. 20546

March 27, 2003 

RELEASE 2003-024: NASA CONTRACTOR ORDERED TO PAY $17,000 IN CIVIL 
SETTLEMENT

On March 3, 2003, the U.S. District Court, Northern District of New
York, ordered Macrodyne, Inc., to pay NASA $17,000 pursuant to a 
Stipulation of Compromise Settlement.   The settlement further
ordered that Macrodyne repair two frequency domain processors
purchased by NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia.

NASA purchased two frequency domain processors with internal buffer 
memory from Macrodyne for a total price of $49,983.  Macrodyne 
delivered the processors to NASA, but failed to include the internal 
buffer memory.  NASA returned the processors to Macrodyne to install 
the memory.  Despite numerous attempts to resolve this issue,
Macrodyne refused to install the internal buffer memory or to return
the processors to NASA.  Therefore, the NASA Office of Inspector
General seized the processors from Macrodyne.  NASA inspected the
processors and determined the internal buffer memory was never
installed and the processors were no longer functional.

Special Agents from the NASA Office of Inspector General's Office of 
Investigation conducted the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney 
James C. Woods, Northern District of New York, handled the
prosecution. 

For more information on this release, please call Joe Kroener, Acting 
Executive Officer, NASA Office of Inspector General, at
(202) 358-2558. 

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