Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY
Date: 27 October 2006
WASHINGTON_The Halliburton subsidiary that provides food, shelter and other
logistics to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan exploited federal
regulations to hide details on its contract performance, according to a
report released Friday.
The special U.S. inspector general for Iraq reconstruction found that
Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root Services routinely marked all
information it was giving the government as proprietary, regardless of
whether it was. The government promises not to disclose proprietary data so
that a company's most valuable information is not divulged to its
competitors.
By marking all information proprietary, including such normally releasable
data as labor rates, the company abused federal regulations, the report
says.
In effect, Kellogg, Brown & Root turned the regulations "into a mechanism to
prevent the government from releasing normally transparent information, thus
potentially hindering competition and oversight."
Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Mann said that since the current contract is
being reviewed and may be divided between several contractors, "it is
clearly appropriate to mark data as proprietary that could potentially be
used for competitive purposes" as would be the case in any new contract.
She said such proprietary markings have been used on most of the data for at
least the last decade and said the company will work with the military on
the matters outlined in the interim report, as the final audit is completed.
Iraq reconstruction audits routinely have found significant problems with
contracting and rebuilding in the country, ranging from high costs for
security and overhead to alleged fraud and lack of oversight.
Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, chairman of the Democratic Policy
Committee, said that in 13 oversight hearings on the war in Iraq the
committee found more than $1 billion (?790 million) in waste, fraud, abuse
and what it called "shoddy work" by contractors.
"I'm convinced that this is the biggest waste, fraud and abuse in the
history of this country," Dorgan said.
If the Democrats were to take control of the Senate, he said, they would
launch oversight hearings on war matters ranging from faulty intelligence
leading to the war to wrongdoing by contractors.
Dorgan's Democratic Party would take power in the Senate by gaining five
seats in elections Tuesday. Thirty-three of the 100 Senate seats are at
stake.
Byline: By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY
Date: 27 October 2006
WASHINGTON_The Halliburton subsidiary that provides food, shelter and other
logistics to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan exploited federal
regulations to hide details on its contract performance, according to a
report released Friday.
The special U.S. inspector general for Iraq reconstruction found that
Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root Services routinely marked all
information it was giving the government as proprietary, regardless of
whether it was. The government promises not to disclose proprietary data so
that a company's most valuable information is not divulged to its
competitors.
By marking all information proprietary, including such normally releasable
data as labor rates, the company abused federal regulations, the report
says.
In effect, Kellogg, Brown & Root turned the regulations "into a mechanism to
prevent the government from releasing normally transparent information, thus
potentially hindering competition and oversight."
Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Mann said that since the current contract is
being reviewed and may be divided between several contractors, "it is
clearly appropriate to mark data as proprietary that could potentially be
used for competitive purposes" as would be the case in any new contract.
She said such proprietary markings have been used on most of the data for at
least the last decade and said the company will work with the military on
the matters outlined in the interim report, as the final audit is completed.
Iraq reconstruction audits routinely have found significant problems with
contracting and rebuilding in the country, ranging from high costs for
security and overhead to alleged fraud and lack of oversight.
Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, chairman of the Democratic Policy
Committee, said that in 13 oversight hearings on the war in Iraq the
committee found more than $1 billion (?790 million) in waste, fraud, abuse
and what it called "shoddy work" by contractors.
"I'm convinced that this is the biggest waste, fraud and abuse in the
history of this country," Dorgan said.
If the Democrats were to take control of the Senate, he said, they would
launch oversight hearings on war matters ranging from faulty intelligence
leading to the war to wrongdoing by contractors.
Dorgan's Democratic Party would take power in the Senate by gaining five
seats in elections Tuesday. Thirty-three of the 100 Senate seats are at
stake.