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Administration Hides Iraq Cost Overruns From Congress

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Sat Jul 29, 2006 at 05:29:32 PM EST
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(by TChris)

More deception from the Bush administration:

The State Department agency in charge of $1.4 billion in reconstruction money bq. In Iraq used an accounting shell game to hide ballooning cost overruns on its projects there and knowingly withheld information on schedule delays from Congress, a federal audit released late Friday has found.

"Released late Friday" for obvious reasons. Let's hope the networks still view government fraud as newsworthy come Monday.

One of the contractors responsible the cost overruns is well connected to the Bush administration: Bechtel.

American and Iraqi officials reported this week that the State Department planned to drop Bechtel, its contractor on that project, as signs of budget and scheduling problems began to surface. ...

The hospital's construction budget was $50 million. By April of this year, Bechtel had told the aid agency that because of escalating costs for security and other problems, the project would actually cost $98 million to complete. But in an official report to Congress that month, the agency "was reporting the hospital project cost as $50 million," the inspector general wrote in his report. ...

"We find the entire agreement unclear," the inspector general wrote of the A.I.D. request approved by the embassy. "The document states that hospital project cost increases would be offset by reducing contractor overhead allocated to the project, but project reports for the period show no effort to reduce overhead."

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    Administration Hides Iraq Cost Overruns From Congress | 3 comments (3 topical)
    Re: Administration Hides Iraq Cost Overruns From C (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Jul 30, 2006 at 08:49:15 PM EST
    Hey, where did all the comments go?

    Re: Administration Hides Iraq Cost Overruns From C (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 09:20:05 AM EST
    Previously, I posted comments on the Halliburton contract from the perspective of a retired government contract specialist. I will not post them again, unless some are interested in seeing them. However, my question here is: why have we not seen the results of an audit on the Halliburton contract? After over three years, it would seem high time that we did, given the amount of controversy that has leaked out regarding fraud, waste, and abuse. I believe it has to do with Halliburton Cheny pulling the levers and preventing an audit. In the subject of this article, I believe a medical facility, there were some 270+ days of delay in completion, not to mention the overruns in funding. Where are the liquidated damages, i.e., the fee the contractor has to pay the government for each day of delay, and is a requirement under the Federal Acquisition Regulation. (Unless, of course, a determination is made that it would not be appropriate. One would like to see the D&F that waived the damages if that be the case!) Who is being held accountable for this cover up? If I had hidden this type of fraud, I would have been summarily terminated! Hidding this type of fraud requires the collaboration and approval of others very high in the chain of command; no contract specialist at the working level would take that on his/her self. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg here. There will eventually be contract personnel (whistle blower types) that will come forward on the fraud, waste, and abuse, under many other contracts in Iraq and when that happens, the American tax payers are going to be stunned! You ain't seen nothing yet!

    Re: Administration Hides Iraq Cost Overruns From C (none / 0) (#3)
    by squeaky on Mon Jul 31, 2006 at 10:11:17 AM EST
    There will eventually be contract personnel (whistle blower types) that will come forward on the fraud, waste, and abuse, under many other contracts in Iraq and when that happens, the American tax payers are going to be stunned! You ain't seen nothing yet!
    I wonder if that will mean more, um, er, suicides?

    Administration Hides Iraq Cost Overruns From Congress | 3 comments (3 topical)