It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise anymore. But in a report to be released today, Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, criticizes KBR for improper bookkeeping and overcharging in a portion of its multi-billion Iraq contracts. From the Washington Post:
As part of its contract, KBR provides gas for vehicles and generators in the Green Zone. In today’s report, auditors wrote, “we found weaknesses in KBR’s fuel receiving, distributing and accountability processes of such magnitude that we were unable to determine an accurate measurement of the fuel services provided.”…
The fuel database kept by KBR also revealed flaws. More fuel had been sent out than generators could hold. When auditors looked at the database in September 2006, it showed that 12,622 liters had been issued for December 2006 — “a future date and an obvious impossibility,” the audit said.
Bowen is quoted as saying that both the administration and KBR have “aggressively responded” to the problems identified in his audit. We’ll see: the next scheduled KBR-related report from Bowen is due in October.
