KBR Contract – Ms Sparky

Archive for the KBR Contract Category

KBR Dodges Lawsuit by Electrocuted Marine

By Forseti | Filed in A Soldiers Story, Electrocutions/Shocks, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR, KBR Contract, KBR Investigations, LAWSUITS, Lawsuits Against KBR, LOGCAP III - KBR

KIM CALANTROPO - (Courthouse News) – RICHMOND, Va. – October 10, 2011 – A Marine who was electrocuted while trying to install a wiring box at the military base near Fallujah, Iraq, cannot pursue negligence claims against defense contractor Kellogg Brown & Root, the 4th Circuit ruled.

Peter Taylor had sought relief from the appellate court after a federal judge dismissed the claim in April 2010. Senior U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar had agreed with KBR that Taylor lacked subject-matter jurisdiction since the political question doctrine bars negligence claims. Doumar also found that the “combat activities” exemption of the Federal Tort Claims Act pre-empts the suit.

The 4th Circuit declined to revive Taylor’s claim, but it did vacate the trial court’s finding about the pre-emption issue since the lack of jurisdiction removes the judges need to consider this aspect of the case.

Taylor, a hospital corpsman for the Marines, had been stationed at a camp about 15 miles outside Fallujah at the time of the July 2007 accident. A generator malfunction had incapacitated the tank ramp that troops used to maintain Marine tanks, Humvees and other vehicles.

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Tags: Camp Fallujah, Electrocutions/Shocks, Judge Robert G. Doumar, Judge Robert King, KBR, Petty Officer 2nd Class Peter Taylor, William Stickman

Defense Department Inspector General says KBR and the military failed to respond quickly to health risks posed to Oregon soldiers

By Ms Sparky | Filed in A Soldiers Story, CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR, KBR Contract, Lawsuits Against KBR, LOGCAP III - KBR, RIO-KBR, Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali

Sodium dichromate has been linked a range of illnesses

…Minutes of a June 14-15 meeting between TF RIO, KBR, and Iraqi State Company for Oil Projects representatives noted that “chemical treatment should [be] selected based on widely available nontoxic commodity chemicals.” However, e-mails between KBR personnel in late June indicated a decision from corporate headquarters in Houston to keep using “chromate” and other chemicals used previously. Three TF RIO witnesses we interviewed supported the conclusion that sodium dichromate was not used at Qarmat Ali after TF RIO and KBR personnel arrived… ~ Part II – Exposure to Sodium Dichromate at Qarmat Ali Iraq in 2003

Mike Francis – (The Oregonian) – September 28, 2011 – The Defense Department and contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root failed to act as quickly as they should have to protect those exposed to a carcinogenic chemical at an Iraqi water treatment plant in 2003, according to a report Wednesday by the Defense Department’s Inspector General.

The report was hailed as a victory for Oregon soldiers by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who was one of a group of senators who sought the IG’s evaluation, and by Oregon National Guard troops who are among those suing KBR. They accuse the contractor of knowingly exposing them to sodium dichromate, an anticorrosive compound that can cause skin and breathing problems and cancer. Read the remainder of this entry »

Tags: DoDIG*, Hexavalent Chromium, Indiana National Guard, KBR, Oregon National Guard, Qarmat Ali, Rocky Bixby, Sen. Ron Wyden, Sodium Dichromate, West Virginia National Guard

Foiled by FOIA and other news

By Forseti | Filed in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, KBR, KBR Contract, LAWSUITS, Qui Tam, Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Violations

Many western multinational companies have been indicted for paying bribes to Nigerian government officials to secure contracts running into billions of dollars. One of the high profile cases involved former US vice president, Dick Cheney. He was head of the American oilfield services company, Halliburton when its engineering subsidiary, KBR, allegedly paid bribes totaling 180 million dollars to secure contracts worth six billion dollars. Nigerian authorities dropped corruption charges against him after Halliburton agreed to pay a 250 million dollar fine. But anti-corruption campaigners say the settlement is illegal. One of them has gone to court in an effort to make the former US vice president face trial. Sam Olukoya reports from Lagos. ~Free Speech Radio News – September 23, 2011

FOIA Friday: Was the Military the Victim of a War Profiteer Fuel Supplier?
NEIL GORDON – POGO – September 23, 2011 – Last March, the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoDIG) released an audit of contracts for the delivery of fuel to U.S. troops in Iraq. Only a summary of the report’s findings has been made available to the public. Yesterday, POGO received the full report (with redactions). DoDIG’s website still promises that the report will be made publicly available “at a later date.”

The DoDIG conducted the audit in response to concerns former House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) had about the competitiveness and prices paid under fuel supply contracts awarded to the International Oil Trading Company (IOTC). In October 2008, Waxman wrote to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that IOTC “appears to have engaged in a reprehensible form of war profiteering” and may have overcharged the government as much as $180 million to deliver fuel to troops in Iraq.

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Iraq: We Lost $1.2 Billion in Equipment Going in; How Much Will We Lose Getting Out?

By Forseti | Filed in GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR, KBR Contract, LOGCAP III - KBR

Dina Rasor – (Truthout | Solutions) – September 21, 2011 – On December 31, 2011, the United States has committed to the government of Iraq that they will be removing their troops and contractor personnel. The US State Department will remain in a diplomatic role with limited Department of Defense (DoD) personnel and some State Department-hired private security personnel for protection.

Beyond the sticky diplomatic implications of this transfer, the DoD has a complicated task to wind down its giant footprint in Iraq. It will require a delicate and well-prepared withdrawal to get all the troops, contractors, equipment, and other assets out of the giant bases and turn the bases over to the Iraqi government while preventing attacks from insurgents and looting of US government assets.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) just released a detailed report [4] saying, in their ever so polite way, that the DoD and the State Department don’t have the information and tools to pull this off. The benign title of the report to Congress (“IRAQ DRAWDOWN: Opportunities Exist to Improve Equipment Visibility, Contractor Demobilization and Clarity of Post-2011 DoD Role”) doesn’t project the startling troubles they outline inside the report that threaten this withdrawal.

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Tags: CENTCOM, Contractor Managed Government Owned (CMGO), Dina Rasor, DoD*, Donald Rumsfeld, DoS*, GAO, Halliburton, Iraq, KBR, LOGCAP, LOGCAP III, POGO, USAID, USF-I

Tamimi, the unlucky “13th defendant” settles with the U.S.

By Forseti | Filed in Civilian Contractors, GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, KBR, KBR Contract, LOGCAP III - KBR, Qui Tam, U.S. Army

Saudi Arabia-Based Tamimi Global Company to Pay U.S. $13 Million to Resolve Criminal and Civil Allegations of Kickbacks and Illegal Gratuities

KBR Subcontractor Provided Dining Services in Iraq and Kuwait

(DoJ) – WASHINGTON – September 16, 2011 – Saudi Arabia-based Tamimi Global Company Ltd (TAFGA) has agreed to pay the United States $13 million to resolve criminal and civil allegations that the company paid kickbacks to a Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. (KBR) employee and illegal gratuities to a former U.S. Army sergeant, in connection with contracts in support of the Army’s operations in Iraq and Kuwait. The civil matter was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division, and the criminal matter was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois.

The U.S. alleges that employees of TAFGA paid kickbacks to KBR to obtain subcontracts awarded under LOGCAP (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program) III – KBR’s prime contract with the U.S. Army to provide logistical support to the military in conflicts abroad, including Iraq and Afghanistan. LOGCAP III is the third generation of contracts under the program. KBR performs its obligations under the contract largely through subcontractors such as TAFGA.

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