This article was first published in Germany on Dec 10, 2009 and has been translated from German to English for this article (this is my disclaimer):
SST Truck Iraq - Unknown operators dumping raw sewage
Services worth millions in Afghanistan
German armed forces awarded contracts without advertising
German armed forces must justify themselves for procurements worth millions for their mission in Afghanistan. For years according to the information of NDRInfo German Bundeswehr contracted the service provider Ecolog without tendering. The official’s association of the German armed forces VBB sees the ministry of defense in the duty.
By Christoph Heinzle and Benjamin Grosskopff, NDRInfo
For their ISAF camps in Afghanistan German armed forces have awarded for years orders worth millions to a private service provider without tendering, North German radio station NDRInfo reported. Besides, employees of the commissioned Dusseldorf company Ecolog AG are or were investigated by international authorities because of the suspicion of drug offence and money laundering. Germans never looked into the relations to Ecolog in detail according to an insider: “One can have an interest to get to know his business partner – but the armed forces never had this interest according to my observation.”
No isolated case?
Ecolog is apparently no isolated case. Security expert Peter Schoor who deals with private military service providers for many years knows about irregularities in connection other companies: “If somebody from the industry tells me: oh, we do not participate in tenders, we find different ways, then I am irritated to say the least. And this cannot be.” Schoor sees the mistake in the system and demands better controlling mechanisms for the whole branch.
As a consequence of the NDR report the German ministry of defense announced an inquiry to check the contract relations with the company to guarantee a clear procurement by tenders. Moreover, the ministry of defense wants to take care of a transparent procurement and a stronger competition. The chairperson of the armed forces officials’ union VBB, Wolfram Kamm, sees the ministry in the duty: “I assume that for the case of inquiries in connection with foreign missions in Afghanistan the political leadership of the defense ministry must be integrated.” Possibly the parliament has to be informed by the ministry, Kamm said.
Ecolog works for the Bundeswehr since 1999 in Kosovo and since 2002 in
Afghanistan. For example Ecolog runs the laundry at the German run Mazar-e-Sharif camp, makes available mobile toilets, and cares for waste and sewage disposal. However, till 2007 there were no tenders for the Ecolog contracts according to the ministry of defense.
In 2005 German armed forces paid more than 13 million US dollars
From documents it arises that the German armed forces in 2005 alone paid more than 13 million US dollars to the company for the services in Afghanistan. Above a sum of 206,000 Euros per order a Europe-wide tender is obligatory. The ministry of defense explains the action with the fact that it is “on account of the circumstances on site (missing publication possibilities, no functioning postal system, no list of possible suppliers on site)” it was allowed to assign contracts with so called “freehand procurements”. This argumentation is extremely questionable in the opinion of procurement law experts since the private suppliers who would have taken part in tenders have offices in Europe, the USA or the United Arab Emirates. Moreover, one cannot award contracts with high order sums in the opinion of legal experts on a freehand basis. NATO and other ISAF countries are tendering their contracts for Afghanistan regularly in Europe or in the US.
Only a single order tendered in 2007
Over and over competitors were surprised about the freehand procurements for Ecolog. Only in 2007 the armed forces wrote out the contract for laundry services – and awarded it again to Ecolog. The remaining contracts with the company, for example regarding waste and sewage disposal, are further closed “decentralized within the scope of basically allowed freehand assignments” as the ministry of defense wrote NDRInfo.
Ecolog board member Thomas Wachowitz said, as a rule there works his company on basis of public tenders for the German armed forces. Of course everything is lawful and has run off orderly he claimed.
Inquiries against Ecolog employees
In the past Ecolog had struck in quite different connection negatively. At least twice there were inquiries against Ecolog employees by public prosecutors in connection with drugs from Afghanistan. According to the public prosecutor’s office of Traunstein in 2008 they searched with an international arrest warrant for an employee of the company because of heroin smuggling. In the course of investigations Ecolog dismissed the employee according to the board member Wachowitz.
Moreover, according to the public prosecutor’s office of Dusseldorf the Federal Criminal Police Office BKA investigated from March, 2006 to February, 2007 because of tips regarding the delivery of several hundred kilos of heroin from Afghanistan to Central Europe. Amongst others an Ecolog employee was under suspicion. After extensive telephone surveillance and observations by the federal investigators the public prosecutor’s office had to close the case due to lack of evidence.
In Macedonia the Chief Public Prosecutor investigates according to NDRInfo since 2006 against the authorized representative of Ecolog AG because of the suspicion of the money laundering. The case is about cash withdrawals of credit cards in to the tune of several million Euros. Ecolog manager Wachowitz said he was convinced that the investigations would have no substance.
Macedonian family stands behind the company group
Around Ecolog there exists a far branched company network with locations in Macedonia, Kuwait, Dubai, Afghanistan, the US and Turkey. Behind the company group stands the high-powered Macedonian family Destani. The enterprise works not only for the German armed forces, but also for numerous NATO states including the US and Great Britain, especially in Afghanistan and in Iraq. (Click HERE for link to original article in German)
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Yet another government contractor is being investigated for contract “irregularities” and crimes and once again there are connections to KBR. Ecolog not only has contracts with KBR in Iraq, the former Program Manager Steve Arnold left KBR and in less than a year was onboard at Ecolog as the President and Chief Executive Officer for Ecolog USA. I have also heard that in early 2007 KBR was “phasing out” Ecolog as a sub-contractor but then did an about face and later that same year increased Ecolog’s contracts.
Steve Arnold quoted: “For a sustained fight like our current commitments, the U.S. military can’t go to war without contractors on the battlefield,” said Steven Arnold, a former Army general and retired executive at logistics specialists Ecolog USA and KBR Inc. KBR was formerly owned by Halliburton Co. He added, “For that matter, neither can NATO.”
According to the LOGCAP Monthly Mirror dated August 2006 here is the “management team” for KBR:
Senior Vice President of Contingency & Homeland Operations
Steve Arnold (article begins on pg 3)
Vice President & Program Manager LOGCAP III Middle East & Central Asia
Chief of Staff LOGCAP III
Deputy Program Manager Support
Deputy Program Manager Operations
Is it just me or is the fact that all of these individuals are retired military officers, former or current KBR executives and all are linked to companies under indictment or investigation either in the US, or abroad just a bit disturbing? It should be noted that Steve Arnold’s predecessor was Paul Cerjan who is now with Agility Logistics along with his former Chief of Staff Steve Gulyas, which is under indictment and Joe Cosumano who is the President and CEO of Agility DGS, Inc (Taos). An unconfirmed rumor has it that C0sumano as been fired, resigned or has taken an indefinite leave of absence. We will confirm this as soon as possible.
Is any investigative agency connecting the dots here?
Ms Sparky
Other Related Posts From Ms Sparky
- US Air Force intends to offer sole source award to suspended company(updated)
- Pentagon ahead of schedule on in-sourcing, beefing up acquisition workforce
- Ecolog attorney demands blog posts be deleted
- German company Ecolog accused of drug smuggling in Afghanistan
- Army Completes Staff Sgt. Maseth Death Investigation-Findings inconclusive
For the record the SST trucks in the picture are GP’d and operated directly by KBR at Camp Liberty… they dumped in the settlement pond when the pump station was blocked. To put it mildly it smelled so bad that it made your eyes water for weeks
That is just nasty. When was this happening and what did they do about? I have photos of SST trucks dumping right in the Tigris River as well.
Here is a link to contracts where Ecolog has a contract with the US Government for fiscal years 2000 through 2009:
http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=ecolog&sortp=r&detail=0&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO
Here is the same info for KBR:
http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/fpds.php?company_name=kbr&sortp=r&detail=0&datype=T&reptype=r&database=fpds&fiscal_year=&submit=GO
Agility has a network of logistics that make it impossible for the government to “fire them” no matter what the indictments and facts illustrate. The US government will likely give them a slap on the wrist, or contract with a Agility shell company that supposedly purchases the contract and operations. There is nobody in certain parts of the world to effectively replace them. The web of connectednmess ensures that they get the awards, the web of logistical strength will ultimately dictate whatever they want to do, and nations will either go to war or not, based upon what Agility and other contractors does for them at a price they dictate. The public made a big fuss about a shipyard in the US being potentially sold to a middle east co. where is the outcry concerning shipyard after shipyard, line after yard worldwide being controlled by potentially hostile entities? They literally are in a position to control the world.
Nothing will be done because they are former generals. It is a good ole’ boy/girl network where they take care of each other and cover up the improprieties/irregularities.
It is interesting what Another FYI has to say and history will agree with him. During the renaissance the Kings finally realized they needed to build National Armies or be at the mercy of mercenaries (contractors) who for the right amount of gold would switch sides. I guess we do not study history enough or would have realized we cannot afford to have so much of our logistics outsourced.
Which would cost less…hiring all the out of work Americans and putting them in uniform to provide the logistics required or paying the contractors to do it? We have created a lifestyle in Iraq that no army before has had and it requires an Army of Contractors to support it.