Word: halliburtons
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...Halliburton's CEO, Dave Lesar, points out that "there are very few companies in the world that could or would adapt this quickly while, at the same time, [financing] an operation of this magnitude." He's right: only two other U.S. companies, DynCorp and Raytheon, bid for this kind of massive logistical responsibility in the last bidding round. Under the terms of its LOGCAP contract, KBR had less than three weeks to provide 27 dining facilities throughout Iraq for 120,000 troops...
...Halliburton employs intermediary companies to provide electronic equipment and other goods in order to fill its orders quickly, and one such arrangement has already run into trouble. KBR used Altanmia Commercial Marketing, a Kuwaiti firm with ties to the country's ruling family, rather than the Kuwaiti national oil company, to fill some of its initial fuel orders. That deal is now the subject of an investigation by the Kuwaiti government and is also being looked into by the Pentagon, which says Altanmia's markup--about $1 per gal.--resulted in a $61 million overcharge. Halliburton says it used Altanmia...
Whistle-blowers say inefficiency is encouraged by the nature of Halliburton's cost-plus contract, which ensures that the company will be repaid for expenses. Henry Bunting, 59, a former Army staff sergeant in Vietnam, handled procurement contracts for Halliburton from a base in Kuwait. He says he was actively discouraged from bidding. "We were not looking for the best price," Bunting told TIME. "The supervisors said time and again, 'Don't worry about the price. Halliburton will get reimbursed.'" Disgusted, Bunting quit and went home last summer. He testified before Congress in February on Iraqi contract practices. A Halliburton...
While the Pentagon and Halliburton say there is no widespread kickback problem, the company has begun to change the way it awards contracts. At the outset, during the first few months of the occupation, KBR "didn't put in place any measures for detecting kickbacks," says a lawyer in Baghdad who represents contractors working in Iraq. Now, he says, KBR looks more closely at its suppliers and Department of Defense criminal investigators are actively investigating any allegations of misconduct...
...Halliburton and its subsidiary KBR are targets in the political battle at home, but their drivers, men culled from the ranks of the desperate from Texas to New Hampshire, are taking real fire on the ground. Easter-week attacks on KBR's fuel convoys left four dead, bringing the company's death toll to 35, the majority of them drivers. Two drivers remain missing. Another, Thomas Hamill, escaped from his Iraqi captors and returned home to a hero's welcome. Hundreds more drivers have quit early and come back...