Around the World
The State Department announced that it intends to solicit replacement services that are currently being provided by Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) under the LOGCAP Program and services provided by DLA. The replacement services will be called Baghdad Life Support Services or BLISS for short.
The selected contractor will be required to provide life support services to persons and organizations that are determined to be performing missions or functions in support of the Chief of Mission, including: COM personnel, selected civilian agencies, military units, and authorized contractors who directly support the COM.
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The criminal investigation into the military contractor formerly known as Blackwater concluded Thursday when two executives pleaded guilty to misdemeanor firearms charges. Former Blackwater president Gary Jackson and former vice-president Bill Matthews each pleaded guilty to one count of failure to make and maintain records related to firearms. U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan sentenced each to four months house arrest and fined them $5,000 each.
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Prosecutors will ask for prison time for a private contractor who pleaded guilty to smuggling $150,000 from Afghanistan to Kansas in 2011, arguing that it was part of a larger kickback scheme, according to court documents.
U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson will weigh evidence today at what is expected to be a contentious sentencing hearing for Donald Gene Garst in federal court in Topeka. Prosecutors are asking for a prison term between 30 and 37 months as recommended under federal sentencing guidelines. The defense is seeking probation.
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Bill Gates is leading a group of U.S. investors committing $1 billion for a stake in construction and fertilizer company OCI NV in one of Egypt’s largest foreign currency inflows since the 2011 uprising. The company is the first multinational Egyptian corporation, and is one of the core Orascom Group companies.
Orascom Construction is the leading international construction contractor based in Cairo, Egypt. They are the region’s largest corporation with projects and investments across Europe, the Middle East, North America, and North Africa. There Fertilizer Group is a strategic owner and operator of nitrogen fertilizer plants in Egypt, the Netherlands, the United States, and Algeria with an international distribution platform spanning Europe, North and South America, Southeast Asia and Africa.
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CONTRACTOR SUPPORT OF U.S. OPERATIONS IN THE USCENTCOM AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY TO INCLUDE
IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
BACKGROUND: This report updates DoD contractor personnel numbers in theater and outlines DoD efforts to improve management of contractors accompanying U.S. forces. It covers DoD contractor personnel deployed in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF); Iraq; and, the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR).
KEY POINTS: In 1st quarter FY 2013, USCENTCOM reported approximately 136,000 contractor personnel working for the DoD in the USCENTCOM AOR. This total reflects a slight decrease from the previous quarter. The number of contractors outside of Afghanistan and Iraq make up about 12.7% of the total contractor population in the USCENTCOM AOR. A breakdown of DoD contractor personnel is provided below:
DoD Contractor Personnel in the USCENTCOM AOR
*Includes DoD contractors supporting U.S. Mission Iraq and/or Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq
Afghanistan Summary
- The distribution of contractors in Afghanistan by mission category are:
Base Support: 13,261 (12%)
Commo Support: 3,300 ( 3%)
Construction: 10,064 ( 9%)
Logistics/Maintenance: 23,688 (21%)
Security: 19,197 (17%)
Training: 3,711 ( 4%)
Translator/Interpreter: 5,796 ( 5%)
Transportation: 6,178 ( 6%)
Other* 25,209 (23%)
Total: 110,404
*Includes Defense Logistics Agency, Army Materiel Command, Air Force External and Systems Support contracts, Special Operations Command and INSCOM.
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The private company Typhon is preparing to operate alongside the world’s navies, offering protection to cargo vessels sailing around the Horn of Africa.
Anthony Sharp of Typhon, wants to escort your commercial ship through pirate-infested waters. A 50-year-old veteran of tech startups, grew up with a love for ships. On February 7, he’ll turn that boyhood affection into what might be the first private navy since the 19th century. Sharp’s newest company, Typhon, will offer a fleet of armed ex-Royal Marines and sailors to escort commercial ships through pirate-infested waters. In essence, Typhon wants to be the Blackwater of the sea, minus the stuff about accidentally killing civilians.
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Army Maj. John L. Cockerham is escorted into U.S. Federal Court for a sentencing hearing after he was convicted of taking $9.6 million in bribes while serving in Iraq, in the largest such bribery case to come out of the war in Iraq.[/caption]
George Lee, a Kuwait-based U.S. defense contractor who was reaping millions as America’s quagmire in Iraq deepened, sent an e-mail to an Army major who awarded bids in Baghdad, warning her not to visit him.“None of us want Uncle Sam, or anyone else, looking where they should not be looking,” he wrote in one of the trove of messages and intercepted phone calls that exposed the biggest fraud conspiracy from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So far, 22 people have been indicted and $67 million has been recovered in that single scheme, which remains under investigation.
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KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- How does the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversee construction in Afghanistan? Who decides the scope, design, location or budget of the projects? The answers to those questions are not simple, neither are the steps involved in bringing projects to completion.
Generally speaking, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, is a construction agent, meaning USACE does not determine construction needs or hire construction workers.
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The following is a list of the Top 30 U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Prime Contractors in FY 2012 ranked by the total amount of money awarded by DoD only. In fiscal 2012, the Department of Defense has so far awarded a total of $300.1 billion in defense contracts to over 20,000 contractors at home and abroad.
#30 CACI International Inc.
Profit:$ 1.40 Billion
Information Technology Services
Size: 14,900+ Employees
#29 Honeywell International Inc.
Profit:$ 1.42 Billion
Size: 130,ooo+ Employees
Competitors: Johnson Controls, United Technologies, BorgWarner
#28 Fluor Corporation
Profit: $ 1.46 Billion
Industry: Architectural & Engineering Services
Size: 75,000+ Employees
Competitors: Jacobs Engineering, Bechtel, Bilfinger Berger
#27 Northrop Grumman
Profit: $1.61 Billion
Industry: Aerospace & Defense
Size: 38,000+ Employees
Competitors: Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Marin
#26 ITT Corporation
Profit: $1.78 Billion
Industry: Water and Fluids Management, Defense and Security, and Motion and Flow Control
Size: 8,000+ Employees
#25 Computer Science Corporation
Profit: $1.8 Billion
Industry: Information Technology Services
Size: 91,000+ Employees
Competitors: Electronic Data Systems, Accenture
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Department of Justice reported a former employee of a U.S. Army contractor and two former U.S. Army staff sergeants pleaded guilty today for their roles in a fraud scheme involving a contract to provide armored vehicles to the U.S. Military in Afghanistan, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Raul Borcuta, 34, of Chicago, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Ronald A. Guzman in the Northern District of Illinois to one count of wire fraud. Former U.S. Army Staff Sergeants Zachery Taylor, 42, of Ft. Belvoir, Va., and Jarred Close, 43, of St. Paul, Minn., each pleaded guilty before Judge Guzman to one count of receiving a gratuity.
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MAKS Inc. General Trading and Contracting Co. filed suit in U.S. District Court against EOD Technology, a firm based in Lenoir City that has done extensive work in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In October, EODT announced a merger with a Virginia firm called Sterling International view post. While still based in Lenoir City, the company is now called Sterling Global Operations.
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Top Obama administration officials want to keep around 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan when formal combat ends in 2014, cementing a limited, long-term American military presence in the country if Kabul agrees, said senior U.S. officials.
A post-2014 troop level of that size would represent the midpoint of preliminary recommendations by Gen. John Allen, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan. Gen. Allen has proposed maintaining a force between 6,000 and 15,000 U.S. troops to conduct training and counter terrorism efforts when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission formally concludes at the end of 2014, officials said. In contrast, the U.S. maintains no residual force in Iraq, a situation that has been blamed for instability in that country.
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The Obama administration is continuing to pursue an agreement with the Iraqi government that would give U.S. defense contractors remaining there beyond 2012 immunity from Iraqi law.
While the approximately 17,000 diplomats and service members working for the State Department are shielded by diplomatic immunity from prosecution under Iraqi law, the thousands of private contractors and mercenaries no longer have such protections, pursuant to the 2008 Status of Forces Agreement.
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The Senate recently agreed to make the Pentagon compile annual reports on contracting fraud. The provision by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was added to a Department of Defense authorization bill.
“This country has a $16 trillion national debt. It is unacceptable that the Department of Defense continues to lose vast sums of taxpayer money because of fraud perpetrated by major defense contractors. This has got to stop,” Sanders said.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has been struggling with corruption in Kuwait. Federal prosecutors have been investigating Army officers deployed in Kuwait’s Camp Arifjan suspected of taking bribes in return for contracts. In at least one case, a procurement officer sentenced to jail for corruption was replaced by another who was arrested on the same charges.
“To date, a total of 19 individuals have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial in the ongoing investigation of corrupt contracting at Camp Arifjan,” the Justice Department said. On Nov. 13, James Momon was sentenced to 18 months by a federal district court judge in Washington. The 40-year-old Momon, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to bribery and conspiracy, was ordered to pay $5.8 million in restitution.
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Houston, Texas — November 15, 2012 — Kellogg, Brown, and Root announced today that the United States has voluntarily dismissed its False Claims Act case it filed against the company.
On April 1, 2010, the United States sued KBR for damages claiming that KBR had violated the False Claims Act by billing under LOGCAP III, which is KBR’s logistics support contract with the Army. These costs were associated with armed private security contractors in Iraq.
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The United States has filed a civil complaint against Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. (KBR) and First Kuwaiti Trading Company for submitting inflated claims for the delivery and installation of trailers to house troops in Iraq, the Justice Department announced today. KBR is headquartered in Houston. First Kuwaiti, a KBR subcontractor, is based in Kuwait.
KBR is the Army’s primary contractor for logistical support in Iraq. On Dec. 14, 2001, t he Army awarded KBR the LOGCAP III contract, the third generation of contracts under the Army’s Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) since the program’s inception in the 1980s. LOGCAP III required KBR to provide logistical support in the military theater whenever and wherever it was needed. Support included services such as transportation, dining services, facilities management, maintenance and living accommodations for United States and coalition forces. LOGCAP III was originally awarded to Brown and Root Services, a division of KBR. The United States has paid KBR tens of billions of dollars for logistical support services since awarding the contract.
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On November 16, 2012 DynCorp International, was awarded an $80M cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The award will provide for the mentoring and training of the Afghanistan National Army.
Work will be performed in Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2013.
Despite the success stories of the establishment of Afghanistan’s National Army, there is still the grim reality that it is very weak without international military assistance.
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The government has intervened in a lawsuit against Fluor Hanford Inc. and its parent company, Fluor Corporation (collectively Fluor), in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, the Justice Department announced today. Fluor Hanford, Inc. is a subsidiary of Fluor Corporation, a Texas-based corporation that provides a wide variety of services to government and private customers. The False Claims Act lawsuit was originally filed by whistleblower Loydene Rambo, a former employee of Fluor.
Between 1999 and 2008, Fluor had a prime contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) to provide a wide variety of security, maintenance and operational services at the DOE’s Hanford Nuclear Site in southeastern Washington State. As part of its contract, Fluor was responsible for managing and operating the Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Center, a federally-funded facility established to train Hanford site workers as well as first responders and law enforcement personnel.
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BAE Systems is rushing to wrap up negotiations with customers in the Middle East as Europe’s largest defense company seeks to regain its footing following a failed merger with European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. (EAD)
The British weapons maker is in advanced talks with Oman to negotiate a deal that BAE said last month it wants to complete by year-end. Among the sticking points are Omani demands for in-service support.
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As the war draws down in Afghanistan & troops having left Iraq last year Contractors have seen a signification increase in contracts especially this 3rd Quarter FY 2012. But we have also noticed there are a number companies now merging or getting bought out by bigger companies.
Defense Contractors still maintain a strong presence in the Middle East despite recent draw down of US troops. In Afghanistan, there are more contractors than U.S. troops according to the most recent quarterly contractor census report issued by the U.S. Central Command latest contractor census »
Currently 137,000 DoD contractors working in the region that covers Iraq, Afghanistan and 18 other countries from Egypt to Kazakhstan not counting 13,500 from the DoS. DOD data reveal that from FY2008 to FY2011, contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan represented 52 percent of the total force, averaging 190,000 contractors to 175,000 uniformed personnel, said Moshe Schwartz, a defense expert at the Congressional Research Service, at a congressional hearing last month, as reported by Time.
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The United States has filed a complaint against a Virginia-based contractor alleging that the company submitted false claims for unqualified security guards under a contract to provide security in Iraq, the Justice Department announced today. The company, Triple Canopy Inc. is headquartered in Reston, Va.
In June 2009, the Joint Contracting Command in Iraq/Afghanistan (JCC-I/A) awarded Triple Canopy a one-year, $10 million contract to perform a variety of security services at Al Asad Airbase – the second largest air base in Iraq. The multi-national JCC-I/A was established by U.S. Central Command in November 2004, to provide contracting support related to the government’s relief and reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
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A basic ordering agreement has been given to Northrop Grumman by the U.S. Army Sustainment Command, allowing it to compete for logistics task orders. The award for the Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award with a ceiling value of $25 billion to all awardees.
EAGLE, a new contract vehicle, is expected to replace ID/IQ vehicles, including Field and Installation Readiness Support Teams.
"Winning a seat on EAGLE is an important enabler for our support to the U.S. Army warfighter," said Bill Carty, sector vice president and general manager, Northrop Grumman Technical Services Defense and Government Services division.
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The Army Corps of Engineers freed DynCorp International Inc., one of the largest U.S. contractors in Afghanistan, of responsibility for construction at an Afghan Army garrison even though long-standing deficiencies remain, according to an inspector general’s report.
In a 2010 audit, Pentagon inspectors identified failings at the camp in northern Afghanistan that included “poor site grading” and “serious soil stability issues.” Inspectors returned in March of this year to find “additional structural failures, improper grading and new sinkholes,” the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in an audit issued today.
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