» 2011 » October Ms Sparky

The Pentagon tries to be accountable, arms dealers go to trial and other news

Posted on: October 16th, 2011 at 6:49 pm — by Forseti

Pentagon Upgrades Financial Accounting System…at a Cost of $7 Billion
Noel Brinkerhoff - (AllGov) - October 14, 2011 – It may end up costing at least $7 billion just for the Department of Defense to fix its byzantine accounting system, so military leaders and lawmakers can actually know what the Pentagon is doing with its money.

The Defense Department has already spent $6 billion trying to establish a new financial system, which won’t be ready for another three years, according to officials. After discovering the bookkeeping was in even worse shape than expected, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta determined his department may need another $1 billion to straighten things out.

According to the Government Accountability Office, the Pentagon—which consumes 43% of all discretionary spending in the federal budget—cannot fully show how its appropriations are allocated. (Click HERE for article)

The birth of a defense contractor
Philip Ewing – (DoD Buzz) – October 14th, 2011 – At the end of the month, the company once known as ITT is splitting itself up three ways. The ITT that’s been part of the military-industrial complex for decades will become “ITT Exelis,” and eventually just Exelis. It’s got a new corporate brand but the same old portfolio of ITT Defense, and two top leaders told Buzz they think the new firm’s prospects are bright.

Retired Lt. Gen. Ken Hunzeker, who runs ITT Exelis’ mission services division; and David Albritton, the company’s vice president of communications, sat down this week at the Association of the United States Army trade show to make the pitch for their spin-off. They gave a rare behind-the-scenes look at what it takes nowadays to create a “new” player in the defense game – although, of course, there’s no such thing as a new defense contractor. The names just change. (Click HERE for article)

Former Department of Defense Employee Pleads Guilty to Submitting False Travel Claims Totaling Nearly $500,000
(DoJ) – WASHINGTON – October 13, 2011 - A former civilian employee of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), a component of the Department of Defense, pleaded guilty today in Washington, D.C., to making more than $485,000 in false travel claims using the Defense Travel System, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Eyak employee’s misdeeds shine a spotlight on DHS contracting, what about LOGCAP et al.?

Posted on: October 14th, 2011 at 8:00 am — by Forseti

Is $20 million a lot of money and should it be investigated, prosecuted and the guilty parties imprisoned? YES! What about the billions of dollars unaccounted for and misappropriated in other USG contracts such as LOGCAP? Where are the investigations and the outrage over those brazen corruption schemes? Is this congressional outcry just a diversion tactic to make the taxpayer think Congress and the DoJ are actually prosecuting criminals? In the meantime, the real culprits are laughing all the way to the bank, while lining the pockets of elected officials with their ill gotten gains via lobbyists and campaign contributions!
~ Forseti

Homeland Security contracts under fire

Robert O’Harrow Jr. – (Washington Post) – October 13, 2011 – A senior lawmaker has asked the Department of Homeland Security to hand over e-mails, contracting records and other documents as part of an expansive congressional probe of an alleged $20 million kickback scheme at the Army Corps of Engineers.

Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) is seeking information about Eyak Technology, known as EyakTek, an Alaska-native corporation that has received more than $1 billion worth of set-aside contracts from DHS and the Army.

Markey is the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the native corporations, which can receive set-aside contracts of any size without competition.

In an Oct. 12 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Markey said he is focusing on EyakTek’s director of contracts, Harold Babb, who was arrested last week in what federal prosecutors said was “one of the most brazen corruption schemes in the history of federal contracting.”

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests. Tags: EG Solutions, Eyak Corp., Eyak Technology, EyakTek, First Source, Harold F. Babb, Janet Napolitano, Rep. Edward J. Markey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, USACE. No Comments »

Former Soldier Sues KBR Over Health Concerns

Posted on: October 13th, 2011 at 11:34 am — by Ms Sparky

Isiah Carey - (Fox Houston) – HOUSTON – A former U.S. soldier has filed a civil lawsuit against a major military contractor claiming the Houston-based company ruined his health and military career.

David Parr, a former service member from Ohio, served in the army in Afghanistan.

Parr says while he was stationed in Afghanistan, he was within breathing distance of the KBR waste disposal operation. He adds that employees of KBR disposed of human corpses, chemicals, old batteries and much more in the burn pits.

The soldier says as a result of his proximity to the operation, he was forced to inhale the fumes from the waste.

In Parr’s lawsuit, he says the smell from the waste burning process was so bad soldiers stationed near the burn pits had to wear inhalers at night to breathe.

The lawsuit alleges because of Parr’s exposure, he and other soldiers developed severe respiratory and other health-related problems.

Parr alleges he had to leave (honorable discharge) the military because he could no longer pass the physical examination in the Army.

Houston attorney Michael Patrick Doyle is representing Parr in this case. (Click HERE for original article)

Posted in A Soldiers Story, Burn Pits, CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, LOGCAP III - KBR. Tags: Afghanistan, Burn Pits, David Parr, KBR, Mike Doyle. 1 Comment »

Indicted ex-Army officials sue U.S. government in S.A.

Posted on: October 13th, 2011 at 8:09 am — by Forseti

Army contracting officials probed in corruption.

Guillermo Contreras – (San Antonio Express News) – October 12, 2011 – Two former contracting officials with the Army, indicted this year after a corruption probe, have fired back with a lawsuit in San Antonio, accusing criminal investigators of illegally twisting the facts in order to charge them.

Velma “Bebe” Salinas-Nix and her husband, Kenneth H. Nix, both 56, were indicted in June on charges of conspiracy and filing false tax returns, which relate to the investigation of an Illinois contractor.

The charges were the result of a multi-agency investigation that began around the time the Pentagon was grappling with corruption cases at military installations overseas. The Justice Department formed a task force specifically to handle those cases, amid a backlash from Congress.

But the couple claim in their federal lawsuit filed Friday that agents Mark T. Jackson, Mark F. Mansfield, Deborah D. Crosier and Ferdinand Vasquez, with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, went overboard and had no probable cause.

It says Jackson, Mansfield and Crosier grilled Salinas-Nix for hours in Virginia, while FBI agent Timothy Lawler led a raid at the couple’s home in Boerne in October 2009 as other agents simultaneously served a search warrant at the offices of Vistas Construction of Illinois Inc.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests. Tags: Army Criminal Investigation Command*, CID, Deborah D. Crosier, DoJ*, FBI, Ferdinand Vasquez, John Cockerham, Kenneth H. Nix, Mark F. Mansfield, Mark T. Jackson, U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), Velma I. Salinas-Nix, Vistas Construction. No Comments »

Jose Mendez & 2 others indicted in FMASO procurement fraud scheme

Posted on: October 13th, 2011 at 2:28 am — by Forseti

Florida Couple and Utah Man Indicted for Alleged Roles in Procurement Fraud Scheme Involving Foreign Military Materials

(DoJ) – WASHINGTON - October 12, 2011 – Three individuals were charged in an indictment returned today by a federal grand jury in Utah for their alleged roles in a bribery and fraud scheme involving federal procurement contracts, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David B. Barlow for the District of Utah.

The four-count indictment returned today in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City charges Sylvester Zugrav, 68, and Maria Zugrav, 66, both of Sarasota, Fla., and Jose Mendez, 49, of Farr West, Utah, with conspiracy to commit bribery and procurement fraud. The Zugravs and Mendez also are each charged with bribery. In addition, Mendez is charged with procurement fraud.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests. Tags: Atlas International Trading Corporation (Atlas), Jose Mendez, Maria Zugrav, Sylvester Zugrav, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Air Force Foreign Materials Acquisition Support Office (FMASO). 2 Comments »

Feds remain quiet about probe of defense contractor EOD Technology (EODT)

Posted on: October 12th, 2011 at 2:31 pm — by Forseti

Josh Flory – (KnoxNews) – October 12, 2011 – It has been 10 months since federal agents raided an East Tennessee defense contractor, and so far the case hasn’t resulted in charges or indictments. That doesn’t mean the government has given up on the case, though.

In December, federal agents targeted EOD Technology with a raid at the company’s facilities in Lenoir City and Roane County, removing paperwork and escorting occupants of the buildings to their vehicles.

The same week, a government official indicated the raid was related to EOD Technology’s work in Iraq. Stuart Bowen, the government’s special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said the Army’s criminal investigation division had helped put the case together and that his agency also works closely with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

At the time, Bowen said “This is not the first, and it won’t be the last, time that we work with those agencies as well as (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to hold accountable those who have taken advantage of the chaotic situation in Iraq for their criminal, personal benefit.”

Since then, the government has had little to say about EODT, but a former government prosecutor from North Carolina said it’s not unusual for a case to take this long.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Reports & Investigations, Security Contractors. Tags: Army Criminal Investigation Division, DCIS*, DoD*, EOD Technology, EODT, FBI, SIGIR, Stuart Bowen, U.S. Embassy Kabul. 1 Comment »

State Dept. IG Finds Waste and Mismanagement on Afghanistan Contract

Posted on: October 12th, 2011 at 7:53 am — by Forseti

NEIL GORDON – (POGO) – The Commission on Wartime Contracting (CWC) may be history, but the need for a contingency operations watchdog of the CWC’s caliber will never go away. In fact, just as the CWC was closing up shop last week, the State Department Inspector General released a report finding problems on a $12 million contract in Afghanistan.

The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) awarded a contract to DynCorp International to provide operations and maintenance support services at Camp Falcon in Kabul, Afghanistan. Under the contract, DynCorp provides almost everything needed to sustain the camp, including food, laundry and medical services, pest control, electric power generation, sewage and sanitation, and security. While the Inspector General determined that, in general, DynCorp “adequately” operates and maintains the camp, the report found weaknesses in DynCorp’s performance of food, fuel operations, and static security guard services.

(Read the rest of the story here…)