Why does the war cost so much? - KBR

[clean]

War Profiteers and KBR
an original article by Clean

KBR is bilking us of billions of dollars and not providing. And it’s nothing new.
The GAO found KBR to be overstaffed and over equipped in the Balkans. So much so that 40% of their members were not actually engaged in any work. Yet they were still given LOGCAP 3 (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program)

LOGCAP is a cost plus contract. Meaning the more KBR spends, the more they make. They spend money; the government reimburses them with an additional 3% fee.

KBR runs a MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation) building in Iraq with a gym, movie theatre, game room and Internet café. In September of 2006 they boasted of having served 73.5 million patrons. Or three times the population of Iraq. Though Iraqis aren’t allowed to use the facility. So it’s roughly 565 times the number of US troops in country.

KBR isn’t allowed to hire private security, they are suppose to rely on US troops for protection, so they subcontracted out to ESS Support Services and paid out 1,075 a day for Blackwater guys. Who were making 500 a day.

KBR charges the government $75 a bag for laundry, then hires Iraqi subcontractors to do the work, paying them $12.

KBR submitted bills ranging from $756,000 to 1.38 million for staffing at H4. Staffing which was made up by TCN. 137 of them, making around 400 a month.

I could go on and on, and I just might as tomorrow unfolds. But this is war profiteering and a dishonor to the men and women who are out there everyday risking their lives. KBR only recently was made to publish their accounting practices. Before they hide behind the screen of “it would give the competition an advantage on under bidding us.”

After the attack at the H4 dining facility, KBR charged the US government twice, to the tune of 2 million dollars to rebuild the hall.

Alright, done now. Just pisses me off.

[Rictor]

No, no, no, you have it all wrong. They're just hard-working American contractors trying to earn an honest buck, selflessly sacrificing for the cause. Charging $100 for a bag of laundry is just how the market works, m'kay? Fair compensation.

There's no such thing as the military-industrial-(congressional) complex, and it's most certainly not a corrupt cancer on American society.

[clean]

And there's been 76 "qui tam" lawsuits filed against KBR and halliburton. And The DOJ has refused to take on any of them, or deem any of them to have merit. If found guilty in a "qui tam" KBR would have to pay back three times as much as the stole.

Qui Tam is part of the False Claims act Lincoln crafted to punish war profiteers.

[clean]

LOGCAP is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract. Meaning KBR could buy 100,000 computers, throw them over a cliff and have the government pay them back. Plus add on a 3% fee.

[shocker1]

Fun fact: Mars Direct as amended could put a long term research team on Mars for around 55 billion.
http://www.cbqc.net/mars/

[clean]

Fun fact: Mars Direct as amended could put a long term research team on Mars for around 55 billion.
http://www.cbqc.net/mars/

If they can hire Cheney as their CEO, I'm sure funding would be around the corner.

[zonk]

everyone knows that KBR is ripping off the government, hell we talk to the civilians while we are over there.it's no big surprise at all, it's just with people like cheney as vice president and bush as president no one is going to do anything about it

[clean]

They also provide excellent service to you guys while you are there. They don't serve crap. Which provides them with a certain amount of cover. The thing is, the stuff they give you, they charge the government 3x the cost.

(I think they provide good service/materials. You could answer that better than me.)

[2Sheds_Jackson]

This far into either the Balkans or Iraq - why is anything running on cost plus? That's supposed to be reserved for short-notice funding when you don't have time to competitively bid contracts properly.

[clean]

LOGCAP was designed by Brown and Root back in 1992. Under federal law, the designers of the contract are prohibited from bidding, and B&R (the predessesor the KBR) won the contract. They just ignored this regulation. The cost plus was never addressed when they went to LOGCAP2 and 3. Nor is it being taken out as we go to LOGCAP 4.
LOGCAP 2 actually went to DynCorp in 1997, but KBR was so entrenched in Bosnia they became exempt from it altogether.

[PanzerMaster]

Wow guys... I always thought that no one can beat Italy regarding corruption and Mafia-style fraud toward the government, but some folks in some lobbies around Washington DC are truly Masters of The Art (of Stealing)

EDIT: I was reading about Qui Tam lawsuit, amazing! You have instruments, rule of the law and a civic sense that is light year ahead in respect to us. Reconquest back your United States of America! The same USA we in Europe dreamed for years after WWII. Why gangsters from the corporation have seized power in your land?

[2Sheds_Jackson]

Very interesting. I see on wiki that Qui Tam was weakened during WWII while as the government grappled with getting all the massive defense contracts set up. It kind of seems like that's what we're doing now as well.

I found an informative report written by the army all about LOGCAP - it's got some good background on the program - and why the US has intentionally offloaded so much previously "military" work to contractors.

http://www.amc.army.mil/amc/ho/pdf/History%20Paper_LOGCAP3.pdf

It basically posits that as expensive as contractors are, they are ultimately faster, more flexible, and less expensive than having the military do it. That doesn't really explain to me why long-term sustainment operations can't be put out to bid though.

[clean]

Hey, good find, 2Sheds.

I don't actually have a problem with LOGCAP, it's the accountability, or lack of it, that I take issue with. And when the GAO says there's a problem and it gets swepted under the rug, and when the DOJ seals Qui Tam cases and refuses to follow up, and whistler blowers are fired etc, that's when I get mad. Granted, there are probably some cases that have no merit. But I'd still like more transparency.

[Mastermind]

Landing a military contract is like digging up a ten pound nugget in an abandoned gold mine. An old painter I once hired was struggling along, barely making it. He managed to bid on a contract basically repainting an entire AFB in New Mexico....he said he just tossed out a huge number, never expecting to get the job....worked out the number of houses and hangars, multiplied by three and then by what he knew he would have to have to paint a regular house or barn....the guy got notified a week later he had won...he was the low bidder! Overnight he bought several new trucks, airless rigs and what ever else he would need, hired new crews...in a year he bought one of the largest hobby ranches in the county and paid cash! He said he had overbid by a factor of six.... Said when the job was done, he and his wife were retiring back to their original homeland....Italy.

[Buckeye67]

I just wish they'd hire me. Wankers. :(

[SOG]

Landing a military contract is like digging up a ten pound nugget in an abandoned gold mine. An old painter I once hired was struggling along, barely making it. He managed to bid on a contract basically repainting an entire AFB in New Mexico....he said he just tossed out a huge number, never expecting to get the job....worked out the number of houses and hangars, multiplied by three and then by what he knew he would have to have to paint a regular house or barn....the guy got notified a week later he had won...he was the low bidder! Overnight he bought several new trucks, airless rigs and what ever else he would need, hired new crews...in a year he bought one of the largest hobby ranches in the county and paid cash! He said he had overbid by a factor of six.... Said when the job was done, he and his wife were retiring back to their original homeland....Italy.

hah! was his name panzermaster!?

[Rifleman]

Wow guys... I always thought that no one can beat Italy regarding corruption and Mafia-style fraud toward the government, but some folks in some lobbies around Washington DC are truly Masters of The Art (of Stealing)

EDIT: I was reading about Qui Tam lawsuit, amazing! You have instruments, rule of the law and a civic sense that is light year ahead in respect to us. Reconquest back your United States of America! The same USA we in Europe dreamed for years after WWII. Why gangsters from the corporation have seized power in your land?

Everyone seems to have blinder's on these days.

[clean]

EDIT: I was reading about Qui Tam lawsuit, amazing! You have instruments, rule of the law and a civic sense that is light year ahead in respect to us.

Qui Tam was designed in the 1860s. They were light years ahead of us now.