When I first saw this, I felt very angry, but then I thought about it.
Defense giant KBR Inc. was awarded a contract potentially worth $2.8 billion for support work in Iraq as U.S. forces continue to leave the country, military authorities said Tuesday.
KBR was notified of the award Friday, a day after the company told shareholders it lost about $25 million in award fees because of flawed electrical work in Iraq.
The company was charged with maintaining the barracks where Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old Green Beret, was electrocuted in 2008 while showering. The company has denied wrongdoing, and investigators said [cover-up] in August there was "insufficient evidence to prove or disprove" that anyone was criminally culpable in Maseth’s death.
The uproar over his death triggered a review of 17 other electrocution deaths in Iraq and widespread inspections and repairs of electrical work in Iraq, much of it performed by KBR.
Dan Carlson, a spokesman for the Army Sustainment Command, said the new contract is for one year, with an option for four more. KBR will handle logistics support, transportation mission, and postal operations.
KBR has long been the military’s largest support contractor in Iraq, providing troops with everything from mail and laundry to housing and meals. The new award was made through a revamped contract structure intended to foster competition among companies.
"The award demonstrates that the government recognizes KBR’s ability and expertise in delivering high quality service in challenging contingency environments," KBR said in a statement.
Charles Tiefer, a professor of government contracting at the University of Baltimore Law School and a vocal critic of KBR, called the award an "outrage" because of the company’s record in Iraq.
"Giving KBR this contract while denying them award fees for their enormous problem of accidentally electrocuting soldiers amounts to rapping them on the knuckles on one hand while handing them a multibillion dollar deal in the other," said Tiefer, who is also a member of the independent Commission on Wartime Contracting… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Common Dreams>
I agree completely with Teifer. But I see the other side of this as well. We are on our way out in Iraq, and KBR is already there. To have another contractor relocate the resources and set up operations on that scale would be far more costly than staying with KBR for the short term. So I’m willing to give this one mere disapproval without outrage. However, KBR must be phased out of military service. These ChickenHawk Cheney butt buddies have been killing out troops and ripping us off for too long.
The long term, and fiscally responsible, solution is to return support functions to support troops. Why pay KBR the salary of a junior executive for a kitchen worker when an enlisted troop will do the same job, more efficiently, for a private’s pay? Short term we don’t have enough troops and it will take time for the military to become attractive again after eight years of the GOP using them as cannon fodder with no concern for their well being. The surest way to do so is to become a peace time army.
One Response to “I Understand the Contract, But…”
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I agree with Teifer, period. They should not have been given the contract, no matter what the cost. I hope that sometime soon, this company will be buried in lawsuits and bankruptcy. No only is the electrocrutian enough, but feeding our soldiers bad food and poisoned water should immediately eliminate them as a contractor in any military service forever. In this case, whomever awarded that K should be investigated for fraud and kickbacks.