Halliburton Contract Lost and Found… and Lost AgainNever underestimate the power of public shaming. After yesterday’s House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform hearing into military contracting in Iraq, the Army has decided to shelve a contract worth $19.6 million to Halliburton. The defense titan, it turns out, had subcontracted the Blackwater corporation to provide private security for its operations in Iraq — something the terms of the contract arguably prohibit. Says the New York Times:
In the dispute with Halliburton, the Army insisted repeatedly to Congressional investigators last year that it could find no evidence that Blackwater had been hired by Halliburton and its subcontractors in Iraq for security.
But in a letter dated Tuesday and made public on Wednesday, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey said that additional investigation showed that Blackwater had provided private security guards for a Halliburton subcontractor, ESS Support Services, a construction and food services business, and that the costs âwere not itemized in the contracts or invoicesâ prepared by ESS.
This isn’t the first time the Army has terminated a Halliburton contract after learning that the company takes an expansive view of its authority. Last year, Halliburton lost out on eleven deals worth billions of dollars — deals it obtained through no-bid contracting — to provide logistical services for the military in Iraq after government investigators discovered over $1 billion in what the Washington Post called “questionable costs”:
Whistle-blowers told how the company charged $45 per case of soda, double-billed on meals and allowed troops to bathe in contaminated water.
Halliburton officials have denied the allegations strenuously. Army officials yesterday defended the company’s performance but also acknowledged that reliance on a single contractor left the government vulnerable.
