Contractor's Plans Lie Among Ruins of Iraq( finished 20 of 150 clinics)

[RedEarth]

WASHINGTON — Parsons Corp., the Pasadena engineering firm that won one of the largest rebuilding contracts in postwar Iraq, fell dramatically short of a number of goals, according to interviews and documents that cite shoddy work and negligent government oversight.

The firm was to have rebuilt Iraq's health and security infrastructure. However, an audit and interviews show it will finish only 20 of 150 planned health clinics, and nearly $70 million of medical equipment meant for the clinics sits unused

Additionally, as few as 12 of 20 hospitals planned to be refurbished will be completed. Some border forts built by the company lack walls, and some fire stations may be structurally unsound.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to properly monitor Parsons' performance, stonewalled investigative efforts and exercised "poor cost controls" as Parsons spent $186 million on a contract to build the health clinics, according to a draft copy of an audit obtained by The Times. About $60 million of that was spent by Parsons on management and administration.

The reports and interviews taken together suggest a wholesale failure in two of the most crucial areas of the Iraq reconstruction — health and safety — which were supposed to win Iraqi goodwill and reduce the threat to American soldiers

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-parsons29apr29,1,547629.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&cset=true

[babylonsister]

1. Dammit! But I bet PArsons still gets paid, regardless of results.

And the US Army Corps of Engineers fell down on the job? Must be composed of brilliant minds similar to the ones that run FEMA. :eyes:

Another failure wrought indirectly by the blivet. Just imagine how much goodwill the US might have garnered if we just built the clinics and hospitals w/o invading the country.

[Kagemusha]

4. I've read elsewhere they were paid in full.

So there you go.

[Voltaire99]

2. Send the contractors to the Hague, too (nt)

[brentspeak]

3. There are some high-ups in the Pentagon who need to be investigated

A lot of waste and a lot of graft has been tolerated and made possible in the first place by some Pentagon officials who have disgraced the rest of the military. Everyone knew this kind of thing was going to happen when the military was privatized by Rumsfeld (almost certainly under Cheney's directive).

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. In my opinion it's not just the Pentagon, this likely goes straight to the

top including the White House.

When you have things like 8 BILLION Coalition Provisional Authority dollars vanishing like smoke, twentysomething college student interns being hired to CABINET level positions in the CPA, no apparent effort made to account for the missing dollars, and shrubco taking the position that the Iraq CPA is "not part of the American government" so that the contractors committing fraud can't even be convicted of crimes, something smells.

I suspect this huge amount of money is diverted not just to enrich people but to fund RW campaigns, think tanks, and bribes for a generation or two.

The Rove/Abramoff/Delay axis of fraud and corruption has their finger prints all over it.

[brentspeak]

7. I think you are not far off from the truth

When $8 billion can't be accounted for, and the White House refuses to even talk about it, it's not far-fetched at all to suspect that people within the White House, as well as some of their stooges in Iraq, have spent time setting up Swiss bank accounts.

[cosmicdot]

5. how does the Statement of Work read? the payment scheme?

did the proposal include a proper cost breakdown for price/cost analysis, proper monitoring, control, and auditing?

Was there even a formal Request for Proposal with specific detailed bid items or did Parsons just make something up based on a phone conversation, given a Contract/Purchase Order Number for invoicing??? Maybe Rumsfeld and Cheney just award contracts from their desks these days justified by some paperwork reduction initiative (aka "just-in-time profiting")? ... wasn't Cheney in the Defense Dept. when the changes were made??? Maybe the "Work" is deemed an "off-the-shelf" item with a "catalog list price", which, due to 'reform', is now exempt from Federal Acquisition Regulation detailed scrutiny? ... why rock the boat, eh profiteers? some bureaucrat might ask for contractor details, justification, and flow-down provisions required by law ... or even a competitive bid!


Statement of Work for the Rebuilding of Iraqi's Health and Security Infrastructure

1.0 Work

1.1 Whatever ... any questions, just give Cheney or Rumsfeld a call ... we trust you ... Blackwater will be there to watch your back as you try to work.


2.0 Payment Schedule

2.1 Profiteering Time is of the Essence

2.1.1 In lieu of Progress Payments of __% Net 30/45/60/per agreement linked to Acceptance of Work (as defined herein) per Site and per Site Deliverables as delineated in Attachment A with Balance Payments made per Site payable after completion of all Punch List Items per the US Government's assigned Project and/or Contract Administrator ... instead of all that, just bill us up front 100% or whenever you feel like it. No big deal. Get it while the boondoggle iron is hot. We trust you (wink, wink, nod, nod). Work deemed close enough by Parsons is work complete as far as we're concerned. We'll pay the invoice upon receipt.


Have the administration and enforcement of Federal Acquisitions Regulations changed or what?!?

It probably wasn't because of expensive toilet seats which may have changed Federal Acquisition Regulations requirements (that just stirred up ire) ... it was because corporate america wanted to get away with less regulation of its costs, and scrutiny of how our tax dollars are spent, etc.

Having worked once-upon-a-time for a defense contractor/subcontractor which did its best to document and justify all aspects of the procurement process, terms and conditions, especially costs, cost reduction efforts, etc. ... I'd say things have become loosey-goosey under Bu$h-Cheney-Rice-RumsfeldCo., ... all that 'concern' about containing costs heard in the 80s ... well ... what's the Defense budget up to these days? Dick Cheney knows how to work the system from within and without. Ask Halliburton.

[lovuian]

8. Iraq record poor for U.S. rebuilding firm

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=5181b1d016bbcd32

A California engineering firm contracted by the U.S. government to rebuild health and security in post-war Iraq has fallen far short of its mandate.

Pasadena-based Parsons Corp., was awarded contracts potentially worth more than $2 billion to rebuild Iraq's health, justice and oil infrastructures in 2004. But a federal audit shows it will finish only 20 of 150 planned health clinics, as few as 12 of 20 hospitals planned to be refurbished will be completed, some border forts built by the company lack walls, and some fire stations may be structurally unsound, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The draft audit the newspaper accessed said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also failed to properly monitor Parsons' performance, stonewalled investigative efforts and exercised poor cost controls as Parsons spent $186 million on a contract to build the health clinics

more...
No accountability for stealing!!!

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. But the military bases and embassy are progressing swimmingly!

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priorities ya know . . .