The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 25, 2004, Page 5, Image 5
Whistle-blower’s claims about deals
for Halliburton subsidiary probed
By WILLIAM C. MANN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Army has agreed to a
Pentagon investigation into claims by a top
contracting official that a Halliburton subsidiary
unfairly won no-bid contracts worth billions of
^ J dollars for work in Iraq and the Balkans,
according to Army documents obtained Sunday.
The complaint alleges that the award of
contracts to KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary,
without competition to restore Iraq’s oil
industry and to supply and feed U.S. troops in
the Balkans puts at risk “the integrity of the
federal contracting program as it relates to a
major defense contractor.”
It also asks protection from retaliation for
the whistle-blower, Bunnantine Greenhouse,
chief contracting officer of the Army Corps of
Engineers.
The Iraq contract with Halliburton has been
a focus of the presidential campaign because of
Vice President Dick Cheney’s past ties to the
company. Cheney was chief executive officer of
Halliburton and continues to receive deferred
compensation from the company.
In a letter to Greenhouse’s lawyer, an Army
attorney said that the matter is being referred to
the Defense Department’s inspector general for
“review and action, as appropriate.” It also said
the Corps had been ordered to “suspend any
adverse personnel action” against Greenhouse
“until a sufficient record is available to address
the specific matters” in her complaint.
Copies of the letter and complaints,
documents which were provided to some
members of Congress, were obtained Sunday
by The Associated Press.
Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall
said from Houston, where the company is
headquartered, “KBR doesn’t have any
information on what Bunny Greenhouse may
or may not have said to other Pentagon
officials in early 2003. Certainly we can’t
address any threatened legal action she may be
considering against her employer.”
“On the larger issues, the old allegations
have once again been recycled, this time one
week before the election,” Hall said.
She emphasized that a report earlier this
year by the Government Accountability Office,
the auditing arm of Congress, concluded the
Iraq contract had been properly awarded and
she said the Balkans issue “was fully dealt with
and resolved several years ago ... (and) since
that time KBR has received high marks from
the Army on our Balkans support contract.”
Michael D. Kohn, who is Greenhouse’s
lawyer, in a letter to acting Army Secretary Les
Brownlee, charged that in the Balkan contract
a deputy assistant secretary of the Army had
ordered changes in documents to legitimate
the contract “for political reasons.”
Kohn’s complaint said contracts were
approved over Greenhouse’s reservations,
handwritten on the original contracts, and
extensions were awarded because underlings
signed them without her knowledge and in
collusion with senior officials.
After her superiors signed off on the Iraq
contract and returned it for her necessary
approval, the complaint said, Greenhouse wrote
beside her signature: “I caution that extending
this sole-source effort beyond a one year period
could convey an invalid perception that there is
not strong intent for a limited competition.”
The contracts under investigation grew out
of a $7 billion multiple-year award to
Halliburton’s KBR subsidiary to rehabilitate
Iraq’s oil industry after the U.S.-led invasion
last year; and an 11-month extension, which
cost $165 million, of a $2 billion services
contract the Army awarded in May 1999.
The Iraq contract was awarded in February
2003, less than a month before the invasion,
under a clause specifying no-bid contracts in
cases of “compelling emergency.” The
complaint said Greenhouse objected to the
five-year term, asking why the certainty that
the emergency would continue for five years.
Kohn said Sunday that he still wants an
independent investigation and will ask
Attorney General John Ashcroft to appoint
investigators to conduct their own probe to
ensure the investigation is complete,
independent and fair to his client.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bunnatine Greenhouse, chief contracting
officer of the Army Corps of Engineers, has
made allegations that have prompted a
Pentagon investigation into whether a
Halliburton subsidiary unfairly won no-bid
contracts worth billions of dollars for work in
Iraq and the Balkans, according to Army
documents.
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