Halliburton: The End of An Era

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Today’s Washington Post brings big news: the Army has decided to end a multi-billion open-ended contract with Halliburton ($7 billion last year) for logistical support. Halliburton also lost a $1.2 billion contract to restore Iraqi oil fields.

Why? Was it because of audits that turned up $1 billion in “questionable costs?”

Because the Defense Department’s investigative wing thought Halliburton’s oil contract was so sketchy it deserved the attention of criminal prosecutors?

According to the Army’s flack, they just decided that it’s better not to have “all our eggs in one basket,” because, the Post paraphrases, “multiple contractors will give them better prices, more accountability and greater protection if one contractor fails to perform.”

You might call that a tacit admission that maybe this whole Halliburton thing hasn’t worked out so well. Either that, or the Army has just discovered the advantages of competitive bidding.

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