Your Tax Dollars At Work ...
...or not.
$72 million should have built one heck of a fine police academy for Iraq. Should have, but didn't. The contractor, Parsons, managed to put up a building with pipes so bad that they leaked human excrement onto the walls and ceilings of the floors below. From an article in today's NY Times.
More than a year after the Parsons Corporation, the American contracting giant, promised Congress that it would fix the disastrous plumbing and shoddy construction in barracks the company built at the Baghdad police academy, the ceilings are still stained with excrement, parts of the structures are crumbling and sections of the buildings are unusable because the toilets are filthy and nonfunctioning. ...
The project also became an argument for the value of government oversight when, in response to the inspectors’ findings, a Parsons executive told Congress in September 2006 that the company would fix the problems at no cost to the United States. Parsons now says that it did so, directing an Iraqi subcontractor to correct deficiencies at no additional charge.
...The structures were refurbished or built from scratch at an overall cost of $72 million in American taxpayer money.
How did all of this happen? Well, although the article makes no mention of it so one can't be certain, Parsons probably got the contract from the federal government without having to go through the bidding process. Parsons then turned around and passed the contract on to an Iraqi subcontractor, presumably under terms that provided Parsons with a tidy profit. At that point, both governmental and Parson's oversight of the project ended.
Now that a government inspector has looked into the matter, both the Army Corps and Parsons are busy with excuses. Parson's is by far the more creative: "Hey, we told our sub to fix it."
And people wonder why the Iraqis can't field an effective civilian police force at this point.
$72 million should have built one heck of a fine police academy for Iraq. Should have, but didn't. The contractor, Parsons, managed to put up a building with pipes so bad that they leaked human excrement onto the walls and ceilings of the floors below. From an article in today's NY Times.
More than a year after the Parsons Corporation, the American contracting giant, promised Congress that it would fix the disastrous plumbing and shoddy construction in barracks the company built at the Baghdad police academy, the ceilings are still stained with excrement, parts of the structures are crumbling and sections of the buildings are unusable because the toilets are filthy and nonfunctioning. ...
The project also became an argument for the value of government oversight when, in response to the inspectors’ findings, a Parsons executive told Congress in September 2006 that the company would fix the problems at no cost to the United States. Parsons now says that it did so, directing an Iraqi subcontractor to correct deficiencies at no additional charge.
...The structures were refurbished or built from scratch at an overall cost of $72 million in American taxpayer money.
How did all of this happen? Well, although the article makes no mention of it so one can't be certain, Parsons probably got the contract from the federal government without having to go through the bidding process. Parsons then turned around and passed the contract on to an Iraqi subcontractor, presumably under terms that provided Parsons with a tidy profit. At that point, both governmental and Parson's oversight of the project ended.
Now that a government inspector has looked into the matter, both the Army Corps and Parsons are busy with excuses. Parson's is by far the more creative: "Hey, we told our sub to fix it."
And people wonder why the Iraqis can't field an effective civilian police force at this point.
Labels: Government Contractors, Iraq
posted by Diane at 4:04 AM
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