19 House members want KBR contract review

[unhappycamper]

19 House members want KBR contract review
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 20, 2009 13:02:01 EST

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to review a $35 million contract awarded to a company under criminal investigation in the electrocution deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

The Associated Press reported earlier this month that Houston-based KBR Inc. was given the contract by the Army Corps of Engineers to design and build a convoy support center at Camp Adder in southern Iraq that includes a power plant and electrical distribution center. The contract was awarded a few months after a senior Pentagon official rejected the company’s explanation of mistakes in Iraq and said some defense officials had lost confidence is KBR’s ability to do electrical work.

The Department of Defense’s inspector general is currently reviewing the electrocution deaths of 18 troops and contractors in Iraq.

Some of the deaths involve faulty electrical work, and military criminal investigators have opened probes into five of the deaths.

Army investigators have reclassified the death of Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, a Green Beret from Pittsburgh, as a negligent homicide caused by KBR and two of its supervisors. Maseth was electrocuted in his barracks shower. An Army investigator said KBR failed to ensure work was done by qualified electricians and plumbers. The case is under legal review, and KBR has said it was not responsible for Maseth’s death.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_electrocutions_kbr_022009/%2e