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.

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.

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.

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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KABUL - In the spirit of collaboration with the Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF), an initiative of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Supreme Group has agreed to support a “proof of concept” convoy to lead the way for the transition of security services from private entities to the Ministry of Interior-controlled APPF.

This inaugural step in the process was completed on October 21, when a contract to move the first 38 fuel tankers under the protection of the APPF was signed by Supreme Group, in conjunction with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) team of advisors. The convoy was then dispatched from the Supreme site in Kabul that evening and arrived safely and without incident in the Ghazni region on October 22nd following an overnight stop in Maidan Shah.

This convoy and its role in establishing the APPF as the manager of safety and security across Afghanistan is an important development. Two Presidential Decrees have called to transfer responsibility for the oversight of security to the federal APPF forces, and Supreme Group is pleased to have played such a key role in the process. Supreme Group is the single largest user of convoy security in Afghanistan and currently contracts more than 6,000 highly-trained Afghan Guards in support of a country-wide supply chain operated across some of the most difficult conditions in the world.