Canceled Iraq contracts cost U.S. $600 million

[babylonsister]

So many zeros, nothing to show for them.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-11-17-iraqcontracts_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Canceled Iraq contracts cost U.S. $600 million

By Matt Kelley, USA TODAY


WASHINGTON — The Pentagon spent about $600 million on more than 1,200 Iraq reconstruction contracts that were eventually canceled, nearly half of them for mismanagement or shoddy construction, government investigators say.

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The $50.8 billion U.S. reconstruction program in Iraq is winding down, with about 70% of the money already spent on about 50,000 projects. Still, federal investigators continue to find examples of waste, fraud and mismanagement.

The canceled projects include:

• Headquarters for two Iraqi military units. The Air Force paid Ellis Environmental Group of Florida $101.2 million, although one project was never started and another was 85% complete. A $31.9 million contract was canceled because of land disputes and the other for $69.3 million after the government determined "the contractor … was performing well below standards," the report says. George Cox, president of Ellis' parent company, called the allegations "a load of horse puckey."

• Two prisons in Iraq. The Pentagon paid Parsons Global Services of California $62 million before canceling the contracts with less than half of the work completed because of delays and rising costs. Parsons is challenging the cancellations before a Pentagon appeals board, company spokeswoman Erin Kuhlman said in an e-mail. She said sectarian violence caused the delays and cost increases.

• Headquarters for an Iraqi military battalion in northwestern Iraq. The report says the U.S. canceled a contract with Colorado-based CH2M Hill because of cost overruns and paid $4.1 million although nothing was built. CH2M Hill spokeswoman Tessa Anderson said costs increased because the military changed the requirements from rehabilitating existing buildings to building a new facility. In an e-mail, she said the company hired workers and subcontractors, brought them to the site and did earth-moving work.