» 2011 » March Ms Sparky

Lattes & lock-up for project manager & financial analyst

Posted on: March 16th, 2011 at 9:24 am — by Forseti

2 sentenced to prison, fined for defrauding government

PANAMA CITY - March 16, 2011 - Two former employees of a local defense contractor have each been sentenced to six months in prison and more than $120,000 in fines for defrauding the U.S. government.

John R. Shannonhouse, 60, of Santa Rosa Beach, and Deborah L. Gibbons, 50, of Lynn Haven, were sentenced Wednesday morning in federal court in Panama City for conspiracy to defraud the United States. Shannonhouse and Gibbons were employed by defense contractor ARINC, in ARINC’s Panama City office.

In 2007 and 2008, ARINC had a contract with the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City to build modules for the Littoral Combat Ship. Shannonhouse was a project manager for the “Littoral Contract,” and Gibbons was a financial analyst.

ARINC provided many of its employees with corporate credit cards to use when making purchases needed for the Littoral Contract, according to the indictment.

From October 2007 to August 2008, Shannonhouse and Gibbons used ARINC corporate credit cards to buy more than 1,000 personal items for themselves from Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Winn Dixie, Best Buy, West Marine, Books-a-Million and other stores.

Some of the items purchased included stored-value cards from Visa, Starbucks, iTunes, and Applebee’s, as well as DVDs, a Blu Ray player, video games, books, a Garmin GPS system, a personal computer, computer software, an X-Box, food, soft drinks and clothing. The cost for these personal purchases totaled $129,978.

Shannonhouse, as project manager, approved all charges for payment from the Littoral Contract, and as a result, the United States was charged and paid for these fraudulent personal purchases. (Click HERE for original article)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests. Tags: ARINC Inc., Deborah L. Gibbons, John R. Shannonhouse, Littoral Contract, U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center. No Comments »

Your U.S. tax dollars at work supporting Iran’s nuclear program

Posted on: March 16th, 2011 at 8:11 am — by Ms Sparky

U.S. Enriches Companies Defying Its Policy on Iran

By JO BECKER and RON NIXON

The federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other benefits over the past decade to foreign and multinational American companies while they were doing business in Iran, despite Washington’s efforts to discourage investment there, records show.

That includes nearly $15 billion paid to companies that defied American sanctions law by making large investments that helped Iran develop its vast oil and gas reserves.

For years, the United States has been pressing other nations to join its efforts to squeeze the Iranian economy, in hopes of reining in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Now, with the nuclear standoff hardening and Iran rebuffing American diplomatic outreach, the Obama administration is trying to win a tough new round of United Nations sanctions.

But a New York Times analysis of federal records, company reports and other documents shows that both the Obama and Bush administrations have sent mixed messages to the corporate world when it comes to doing business in Iran, rewarding companies whose commercial interests conflict with American security goals.

Many of those companies are enmeshed in the most vital elements of Iran’s economy. More than two-thirds of the government money went to companies doing business in Iran’s energy industry — a huge source of revenue for the Iranian government and a stronghold of the increasingly powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a primary focus of the Obama administration’s proposed sanctions because it oversees Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

Other companies are involved in auto manufacturing and distribution, another important sector of the Iranian economy with links to the Revolutionary Guards. One supplied container ship motors to IRISL, a government-owned shipping line that was subsequently blacklisted by the United States for concealing military cargo. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Media Coverage, Politics. Tags: ABB Ltd, Aker Solutions, Alcatel-Lucent, Alstom, ArcelorMittal, Atlas Copco, Baker Hughes, Barclays PLC, BASF, Bayer, BNP Paribas, Bosch, BP, Bridgestone Corporation, British Petroleum, Canon, Caterpillar Inc., ConocoPhillips/Lukoil, Credit Suisse, Daelim, Daewoo International, Daimler, Degussa, Denis McDonough, Deutsche Bank, Dresser-Rand, ENI, Ericsson, Evonik, Export-Import Bank, Exxon Mobil, Fiat S.p.A., Finmeccanica, Flowserve, Foster Wheeler Corporation, Glencore, Halliburton, Hewlett-Packard, Honda Motor Co., Honeywell, HSBC, Hyundai Motor Co., Ingersoll Rand, Iran Sanctions Act, IRISL, Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Isuzu, Itron, John R. Bolton, Kia Motors, KLM-Royal Dutch Airways, KPMG, Linde, Lloyds TSB, Lufthansa, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Mitsui & Co Ltd, National Security Council, Nestle, Nissan, Nokia, Nokia-Siemens, Petrobras, Reliance Industries, Rep. Ron Klein*, Repsol YPF, Royal Dutch Shell, S.A., Samsung, Schlumberger, Schneider Electric, Senator Byron Dorgan*, Siemens AG, SK Networks Ltd., Societe Generale, Sony, Statoil ASA, Stuart E. Eizenstat, Suzuki, ThyssenKrupp, Toshiba, Total, Toyota, Tyson Foods, Unilever, Wartsila OYJ, William A. Reinsch. 3 Comments »

“Know When to Hold ‘Em”

Posted on: March 15th, 2011 at 2:41 am — by Forseti

Federal Judge Orders NAVSEA Engineer Accused of Kickbacks to Stay Out of Casinos

A federal magistrate imposed the additional condition of release on Monday after it was learned defendant Ralph Mariano had racked up more than $100,000 in casino winnings recently, including while out on bail.

Angela Lemire – (Middletown Patch) – March 14, 2011 – A federal magistrate on Monday banned one of the men charged with engaging in a multimillion defense contractor kickback and bribery scheme from casino gambling, after he reportedly won $112,000 at Twin River Casino in Lincoln since early January, including while out on bail.

Ralph Mariano, 52, of Arlington, VA, who was working as a civilian program manager and senior systems engineer with the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Newport at the time of his Feb. 8 arrest, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond on Monday for a bond hearing. Mariano had previously requested extensions to come up with the $50,000 he needed to post to avoid incarceration pending the federal case against him, Projo.com had reported.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests. Tags: Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow (ASFT), Anjan Dutta-Gupta, NAVSEA, Ralph Mariano. No Comments »

You know how to whistle don’t you and other news…

Posted on: March 13th, 2011 at 4:41 am — by Forseti

Finding Secrets in the U.S. Defense Budget and a KBR Hat
…Looking for rendition sites in Kabul, Paglen recalls how once, when driving down a forgotten road, he got caught in a goat traffic jam. The goatherd sported a baseball cap marked KBR, short for Kellogg Brown & Root, the notorious private military contracting company… - David Cotner (LA Weekly)

Proposed Anti-Fraud Wall Art for DoD Contractors

Revelations in BAE Saudi case prompt inquiry call
Christopher Hope and Stephen Swinford – (The Telegraph) – March 12, 2011 - A senior MP has demanded a parliamentary inquiry into Britain’s £43 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia after a leaked US diplomatic cable disclosed the full case against BAE Systems, the defence contractor.

The Serious Fraud Office dropped the investigation in December 2006, after intense diplomatic pressure from the Saudis. BAE was fined by US authorities last year after it admitted a relatively minor charge of making false statements. It faced no action in Britain over the Saudi allegations and until now the full details of the case have been kept secret.
However, a US cable given to the WikiLeaks website and obtained by The Daily Telegraph discloses the strength of the investigators’ case. Written four months after the collapse of the investigation, it shows the SFO had evidence that:

BAE paid £73 million to a Saudi prince who had “influence” over the Al-Yamamah defence contract and that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe another “very senior Saudi official” received payments;

The contractor was being covertly investigated by the SFO for carrying out a “potential fraud” against a government department;

BAE allegedly circumvented anti-bribery laws by making “substantial payments” to overseas agents employed by the Saudi government.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, then British ambassador in Riyadh and now a BAE Systems’ director, “had a profound effect” on the decision by Robert Wardle, then SFO director, to end the investigation. (Click HERE for article)

DoD Proposes Anti-Fraud Wall Art For Contractors
Joe Palazzolo – (WSJ Blogs) – March 11, 2011 – If you see fraud, say something.

That’s the message the Defense Department wants to convey in contractors’ offices around the globe, anyway.

The department proposed a rule in Friday’s Federal Register that would require defense contractors to prominently display Defense Department fraud hotline posters in common work areas.

As it stands, contractors with their own ethics programs that include hotline posters are exempt from having to display the Defense Department’s version.

But the department’s inspector general has determined that the exemption could diminish “the means by which fraud, waste, and abuse can be reported under the protection of federal whistleblower protection laws,” the proposal says.

The inspector general is also revising the agency’s fraud hotline poster to inform contractor employees of their whistleblower protections.

The public comment period on the proposed rule closes on May 10. (Click HERE for article)

U.S. prosecution of leakers could chill whistle-blowers
Chuck Raasch – (USA Today) – WASHINGTON - March 11, 2011 - Despite the Obama administration’s promise to increase openness and transparency, the Justice Department is stepping up prosecution of those who leak classified information, a move that critics say will have a chilling effect on whistle-blowers who are essential to keeping government in check.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

David Isenberg: How to Take Proper Aim at a Target Rich Environment

Posted on: March 11th, 2011 at 8:47 am — by Ms Sparky

They only agree on one thing......

David Isenberg – The PMSC Observer & Huffington Post

Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq (Praeger Security International)

Officially, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense is the Pentagon. But it also goes by other names. One of the more accurate, from the viewpoint of trying to understand it, is simply the “Puzzle Palace.” There is good reason for that. Hands down, without question, the U.S. Department of Defense is, from both an accountability and cost-effectiveness perspective the most dysfunctional executive branch department of them all.

From an economic viewpoint of getting good value for one’s tax dollar or, to use military argot, getting bang for the buck, the Pentagon has long under delivered and underwhelmed. When one considers the gargantuan amounts of money that are annually shoveled into the gaping monetary maw of the U.S. military one can’t help but paraphrase Winston Churchill’s famed quote on the RAF; never has so much been given to so little effect. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Huffington Post, Politics. Tags: David Isenberg*, DoD*, Pentagon. 1 Comment »

Dyncorp paying liquidated damages for failures in Afghanistan

Posted on: March 9th, 2011 at 6:43 am — by Ms Sparky

Severe soil settling has caused this guardhouse to lean and its surrounding walls to crack. SIGAR has recently identified significant soil stability issues at the construction site of the Kunduz ANA garrison. (SIGAR photo)

DynCorp Is Two Years Late Finishing Afghan Barracks Construction

By Tony Capaccio – Mar 8, 2011 1:36 PM PT

DynCorp International Inc., the largest contractor in Afghanistan, is running two years late in completing construction of a barracks for use by Afghan security forces, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The $72.8 million, two-phase project for Kunduz was originally scheduled to be completed in June 2009. The date was extended to August 2010. The latest completion target is May 31, Corps spokesman Eugene Pawlik said in an e-mail yesterday.

Construction delays at the Kunduz barracks, in northern Afghanistan, and at other facilities throughout the country complicates the U.S. process of turning over security functions to Afghan forces, said Charles Tiefer, a member of the Commission on Wartime Contracting.

“It’s a setback in our hoped-for rapid build-up of the Afghan army’s infrastructure, which needs top priority if we’re to meet the deadline of turning responsibility for the country’s security to these Afghan forces in 2014,” Tiefer, a University of Baltimore professor, said in an e-mail today. The eight- member commission was established by Congress to monitor contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ashley Burke, a spokeswoman for Falls Church, Virginia- based DynCorp, said in an e-mail that “unanticipated soil abnormalities were a major issue impeding the construction progress.” DynCorp was acquired last year by New York-based Cerberus Capital Management LP. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC), GOV. CONTRACTORS, LOGCAP-Dyncorp, Miscellaneous, Reports & Investigations, Senate & House Committee Hearings, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations. Tags: Charles Tiefer, Commission on Wartime Contracting, CWC, DynCorp*, Kunduz, SIGAR, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USACE. 5 Comments »

The naked truth about transparency and other news…

Posted on: March 6th, 2011 at 8:45 am — by Forseti

If transparency—including public access to past performance information—were added to the process, maybe the government would be deterred from awarding taxpayer dollars to risky contractors and the contractors would improve their performance. But then again, maybe these contractors are too big too fail. – Scott Amey, General Counsel Project On Government Oversight (POGO)

The Dog Ate My Performance Report

In brig, WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning ordered to sleep without clothing
Ellen Nakashima – (Washington Post) – March 6, 2011 – Military jailers are forcing Bradley Manning, the 23-year-old soldier accused of passing classified documents to WikiLeaks.org, to strip naked in his cell at night and sleep without clothing, a requirement his attorney says was imposed after Manning made a “sarcastic quip” about his confinement.

For most of the past eight months, Manning has been required to sleep wearing only boxer shorts, because of his status as a detainee under “prevention of injury watch,” said 1st Lt. Brian Villiard, a spokesman for the military detention facility, or “brig,” in Quantico. Beginning Wednesday night, the facility commander ordered that Manning turn over his boxers, too.

“The intention is not to cause any sort of humiliation or embarrassment,” Villiard said. “The intention is to ensure the safety and security of the detainee and make sure he is able to stand trial.”

Villiard said he could not explain how Manning might harm himself if he were allowed to keep his underwear, citing rules to protect detainees’ privacy. All he could say was that “circumstances warranted” the measure, which was ordered by the brig commander, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Denise Barnes. The requirement will remain in effect until a review next week, he said.

But Manning’s attorney, David E. Coombs, said he thought the order was “punitive” under the “guise of being concerned” about Manning’s welfare. (Click HERE for article)

Lawmakers criticize military funeral protesters
Ben Terris – (National Journal) – March 4, 2011 – Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who won a Supreme Court ruling this week supporting their right to protest military funerals, are misusing their right to free speech, say Senate Armed Services Committee members Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Sen. Mark Begich, Alaska.

(Read the rest of the story here…)