Eastford aerospace company Whitcraft fined for claiming small business contracts after private equity deal
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Whitcraft Group is headquartered in Eastford.
Connecticut aerospace supply chain company Whitcraft has agreed to pay $1.3 million in penalties to the federal government to settle allegations it unlawfully claimed small business set-aside contracts.
Eastford-based Whitcraft was founded as an independent company in 1960. In 2017 private equity firm Greenbriar took a majority stake in the business, combining it with Berkshire Manufactured Products in Newburyport, Massachusetts as the Whitcraft Companies.
Both facilities machine and fabricate sheet metal aerospace parts and components for commercial and military aviation applications. Their clients include major original equipment manufacturers Pratt & Whitney, GE, Sikorsky and Rolls Royce.
The acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Marc Silverman, says that between April 2017 and November 2022, the Whitcraft Companies certified that they were small businesses and were awarded 71 small business set-aside contracts that the government now says they were ineligible to receive under Small Business Administration rules.
In December of 2022 Greenbriar went on to acquire Manchester-based Paradigm Precision and merged the two companies as Pursuit Aerospace.
At that point, the Whitcraft Companies voluntarily disclosed to the government potential affiliations that made them ineligible to be awarded small business contracts set aside for small businesses.
The U.S. Attorney’s office says that Whitcraft Companies received credit in the settlement for their voluntary disclosure and cooperation with the government during its investigation.
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