Where does the Army think its money comes from?

Where does the Army think its money comes from?

American companies, especially labor-intensive companies, are fighting hard to survive in the global marketplace.

Back in September 2004, David Johnson, president and CEO of Summitville Tiles in Columbiana County, was testifying before a congressional hearing on U.S.-China trade in Akron.

He described a “life and death struggle” to save a company that was founded in 1912 and survived the Great Depression and two world wars but was seeing its product line undercut by unfair trade practices by other countries and misguided trade policies in the United States.

He testified about his frustration with U.S. trade officials who listened to his pleas for help. “Everyone nods in concern; they think this is terrible. But no one really gives a damn.”

Asked, “Did it further upset you that those individuals are being paid by your tax dollars?” Johnson replied, “You bet it does.”

Now Johnson has a new source of frustration with a new group of government bureaucrats.

Summitville Tile is not only fighting China and other countries that subsidize their production for export and put unreasonable tariffs on imports. Summitville now has to fight the U.S. Army for a fair shot at domestic sales.

Nothing to brag about

U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, D-6th, released a letter he and other members of the Ohio delegation sent to Secretary of the Army John McHugh regarding a school construction project at Fort Bragg recently awarded by the U.S. Army.

The new school will need about $250,000 worth of ceramic tile products.

Summitville is more than capable of filling the tile needs for such a project. As Wilson’s letter stated: “We understand that there were two thin-brick product vendors qualified and approved for usage at the new school project at Fort Bragg; Summitville Tiles based in Summitville, Ohio and the German-owned Feldhaus.” And yet, inexplicably, the Army selected Feldhaus for the contract.

Even worse, the contract was awarded without a full and open bidding process. It isn’t surprising that Summitville can’t get fair treatment from China, but it has every right to expect better here at home.

Did anyone in the bidding and contract process stop for one moment and think about who is paying their salaries and who is paying for this school? It’s not a German company. It’s not German ceramic workers.

The people who are paying the bill are American taxpayers, including the owners, operators and employees of Summitville Tiles and thousands of other small American businesses.

And if those businesses collapse — and collapse they will if they can’t even get fair treatment from government procurement agents — the Army won’t be building any new schools. It will be scrambling to find the money to buy bullets.

We can’t wait to hear Secretary McHugh’s reply to the Summitville letter. The only acceptable response will be that the Army will reopen bidding for this project and will attempt in the future to not bite the hand that feeds it.