Hello.
All Boeing programs have "bear straps". No, they are not external neither on 37 nor on other programs (47,57,67).
Bear straps were more used on older programs when sheet metal was the preferred forming (ever heard of quintupler?!?!?!)..
Today, with NC machining you can generally avoid layers.
Tears straps were mostly, as explained by JET II, used as a fail-safe parts, therefore used on 37 and 47 programs.
However, since FAA will probably bring the fail-safe criteria back in FARs (in addition to damage tolerance) we can see more of that stuff.
Boeing (or any other) QC report what they see as imperfection (sort of speak). In general it is up to Stress to evaluate and get the final call if the part should be replaced.
I seriously doubt that Stress would accept a problematic part (at least I wouldn't).
Cheers,