» LOGCAP III – KBR Ms Sparky

KBR’s contracts are classified? What is the DoD hiding?

September 1, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Army Secretary says KBR contract still classified

Published: Tuesday, September 01, 2010, 6:41 PM
Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian Julie Sullivan, The Oregonian

The Army’s combat mission in Iraq has ended, but details of the no-bid contract it signed with Kellogg, Brown and Root before the war started remain classified.

On Tuesday, Sec. of the Army John McHugh said he would not release the contract’s specifics that holds taxpayers — and not KBR — responsible for any harm to a soldier or civilian as it worked restoring Iraqi oil flows in 2003.

But in a two-page response to U. S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s demand for details, McHugh reveals how unusual the Army’s arrangement with the former Halliburton subsidiary was.

“Apart from the Restore Iraqi Oil contract with KBR, no other Army contracts awarded since 2001….contain indemnification provisions,” McHugh wrote. “The Army has made no payments as a result of indemnification provisions with contractors supporting contingency operations in Iraq. Afghanistan or anywhere else.”

In July, Blumenauer demanded the Army produce the contract after KBR’s claims of immunity emerged in a U.S. District Court case in Portland. Chris Heinrich, a KBR attorney, said in a sworn deposition that after KBR signed its Restore Iraqi Oil contract and as the March 2003 invasion was taking place, he went to the Pentagon himself to demand immunity for KBR.

He told Army officials that KBR refused to do the restoration without “broad coverage.” KBR required that taxpayers — not the war contractor — pay for any property damage, injury or death at any KBR site. That applies even if the harm resulted from KBR negligence. KBR eventually billed the government $2.5 billion for the work.

But it could cost taxpayers millions more. Dozens of National Guard soldiers from four states have sued KBR since 2008 claiming the contractor knowingly or negligently exposed them to a cancer-causing chemical at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant. Among them: 26 Oregon Army National Guard soldiers who arrived at the Iraq plant in late May 2003. They claim breathing, stomach and skin issues result from their exposure to hexavalent chromium.

Blumenauer expressed disbelief that the specifics would remain classified — even after combat operations ceased.

“Who is it precisely we’re keeping information from?” he asked. “It appears the only reason to invoke this classification at this point is to keep information from the American public.”

Blumenauer said he is drafting a bill requiring such an arrangement be reported to Congress in the future. “There ought to be someone looking over their shoulders.”

Meanwhile, the National Guard soldiers’ case is moving forward in Portland. Monday, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul Papak denied a KBR motion to dismiss.

Spokeswoman Heather Browne said KRB disagrees with the judge and may appeal. She restated KBR’s stand that the Army was responsible for safety at the plant. (click HERE for original article)

Posted in CHEMICAL AND OTHER EXPOSURES, GOV. CONTRACTORS, KBR Contract, LAWSUITS, LOGCAP III - KBR, LOGCAP IV - KBR, Politics, Qarmat Ali Lawsuits, RIO-KBR, Sodium Dichromate @ Qarmat Ali. Tags: John McHugh, KBR Contract, Qarmat Ali, Rep. Earl Blumenauer. 13 Comments »

The Struggle to Police Foreign Subcontractors in Iraq and Afghanistan

August 29, 2010 — Forseti

Billions at Stake, but U.S. Investigators Stymied by Murky Rules, Enforcement Obstacles

By Nick Schwellenbach – August 29, 2010
To win hearts and minds in Afghanistan and Iraq, military experts want U.S. companies to contract with local firms for a variety of tasks like trucking, feeding troops, and providing security. The U.S. government’s “Afghan First” and “Iraqi First” initiatives increasingly seek to rely on local contractors, often through subcontracts, in part to stimulate their local economies.

But a host of investigations underscore the perils in the murky world of subcontracting with foreign firms, and the difficulties in making sure taxpayer dollars are well spent. Among the current and recent probes by the Pentagon, congressional panels, and federal investigators:

Up to $300 million in subcontracts in Iraq and Kuwait were allegedly tainted by a Saudi-based subcontractor employee’s kickback scheme;
Subcontracted security forces in Afghanistan are suspected of bribing both Taliban and Afghan government officials;
U.S. money for a trash collection program in Iraq, administered by a bewildering array of subcontractors, has allegedly ended up in the pockets of insurgents; and

A former contractor employee alleged that Middle Eastern subcontractors, trying to sway the award of more subcontracts, were sneaking prostitutes into Baghdad’s Green Zone by abusing their security access cards.
Subcontracting is among the most challenging parts of the U.S. government’s widespread outsourcing of war-related tasks. It works like this: A government agency — most likely the Defense Department, State Department, or U.S. Agency for International Development — will award work to a “prime” contractor. That prime contractor, usually a large American company like Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) or DynCorp International, will often subcontract some or even a majority of its work to other companies, including foreign-owned firms. Those subcontractors sometimes then turn around and subcontract part of the work, and so on.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

KBR warns employees about media tactics

August 27, 2010 — Ms Sparky

“Bad reporter! Bad!!” It’s very amusing how KBR sends out these “Media Advisories” preparing employees for the “impending attack of reporters”. Those crafty underhanded tricksters! Out to extract KBR’s sin and secrets from the innocent unsuspecting KBR employee! KBR makes these reporters sound like a seductive band of traveling Gypsies.

I also find it humorous how KBR crafts their memos to appear as if KBR HQ/Corporate has the best interest of the employee at heart. Stating they can not be forced to talked to the media. Then in the next breath stating it is against company policy to talk to the media without prior approval. So even if a KBR employee desperately wanted to talk to the media they are intimidated into silence. I would like to report that this is a corporate tactic unique to KBR but it’s not. Most corporations who have something to hide employ this method of attempting to control the media. Thank goodness it doesn’t seem to be working! Keep that information coming!

Below is a memo that was just sent out today Friday 8/27/2010 @ 9:22 AM

TO:                LOGCAP IV CTP employees at JBB
FROM:         Floyd Driver, CTP Task Order Manager
SUBJECT:   Media Advisory – Public Affairs Media Day

Today, the 103rd ESC’s Public Affairs Office (PAO) is hosting a Media Day. Media representatives will be escorted by PAO officers to CTP work locations located on Joint Base Balad.

KBR’s public relations policy requires that all employees refer “all written or oral inquiries from individuals external to the KBR corporate Public Relations department.” CTP’s regional contact for Public Affairs inquiries is the LOGCAP IV Project Management Office (PMO). If you are approached by the media, politely and firmly respond: “I am not the appropriate media contact for KBR. Please contact LOGCAP IV Operations Managers, Sarah UiMhuirgheasa at 713.753-4264 or Cam White at 713-970-9690.” You may also provide the requestor with our email addresses.

CTP employees are only allowed to give media interviews after securing advanced approval from corporate communications via LOGCAP IV PMO. Notify your supervisor immediately if your are approached with requests for information or comments and/or photographed or videotaped during a Media Day visit to your work area. If a media representative tells you that a question is “off the record,” “on background,” or “for research” the information will likely still be used. The same guidance applies even if the media is accompanied by a military PAO.

If approached by a media representative, remember the following points –

Find out who you’re talking to before engaging in a conversation. Most media won’t identify themselves until you ask. Don’t be afraid to start off the conversation with “Who are you?” Check his/her credentials. Report their name and media affiliation to your supervisor.

If the individual is not escorted by PAO and there is not a standard or routine need for access to your work area or service facility, then s/he should be escorted off the work site by KBR.

Always remember an employee cannot be forced into talking to the media.

Reference corporate policy (P-GL-KBR-COM-0801, dated April 5, 2007), “All types of Media Contact are coordinated through the Corporate Communications Department, the CEO of the Company, or Company Executives. Other employees refer inquiries from media companies, organizations or representatives to Corporate Communications and obtain approval of Director of Corporate Communications before responding to Media Contact on behalf of the Company. Media Contact includes such events as interviews, press events, media alerts, media tours, and roundtable discussions.”

Floyd Driver
LOGCAP IV
CTP Task Order Manager
KBR, Inc.
APO AE 09391
Office: 281-669-XXXX

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, LOGCAP III - KBR, LOGCAP IV - KBR, Media Coverage. Tags: Employee Issues-KBR, KBR, Media Coverage. 13 Comments »

Another KBR employee Daniel Freeman pleads guilty to taking bribes (updated)

August 26, 2010 — Ms Sparky

Daniel Freeman (photo courtesy of Facebook)

Updated: August 28, 2010 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation Department of Justice Press Release with more information.

Updated: August 27, 2010 – Bloomberg updated this article with KBR’s comments from Heather Browne verifying Daniel Freeman was in fact a former KBR employee. Click HERE for the updated version.

Note: Apparently Daniel Freeman did in fact work for KBR when he committed these crimes by accepting bribes from subcontractors. The below information was sent to me. It is reportedly from a KBR employee roster generated during the time he was committing his crimes. I redacted the date of birth. No matter what Heather Browne does or doesn’t say, which is bullshit either way, I’m convinced he worked for KBR. ~ Ms Sparky

Afghanistan Contractor’s Former Employee Pleads Guilty to Taking Bribes

By Patricia Hurtado – Aug 26, 2010 1:36 PM PT

A former employee of a U.S. contractor in Afghanistan pleaded guilty to accepting $200,000 in bribes in return for steering work to companies doing business with the U.S. military.

Daniel Freeman, 38, of Hempstead, New York, told a U.S. magistrate judge in Manhattan that from 2007 to 2009, he accepted the gratuities while working in Afghanistan for an unnamed U.S. military contractor. He also said he laundered the money he received by sending the cash back to the U.S. in concealed transactions.

“I accepted illegal cash payments from Afghan-owned subcontractors for awarding contracts,” Freeman told U.S. Magistrate James Cott in Manhattan. “I instructed and directed other people to bring the money back into the United States. They had no knowledge of how I obtained the money. I did it to conceal the way I received the money.”

Cott said Freeman could have faced as long as 25 years in prison if convicted after trial of two charges of money laundering and accepting an illegal gratuity. The magistrate said that according to a plea agreement between the defendant and the government, Freeman faces 51 to 63 months in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, who is presiding over the case.

“He’s accepted responsibility and he plans to live a law- abiding life,” John Meringolo, Freeman’s lawyer, said after today’s hearing. “He’s very sorry for what he’s done.”

Free on Bond

Freeman was allowed to remain free on a $150,000 personal- recognizance bond. Cott told him to return to court Nov. 18. No sentencing date was set.

While the contractor which Freeman worked for wasn’t named in court or in court papers, two people with knowledge of the case who weren’t authorized to speak on the record said Freeman worked for KBR Inc., the U.S. military contractor.

The company, the U.S. Army’s largest contractor in Iraq, provides services such as housing, meals, laundry, showers, water purification and bathroom cleaning.

Heather Browne, a spokeswoman for Houston-based KBR, didn’t immediately reply to a voice-mail message left at her office seeking comment. Another person at KBR, who wouldn’t give her name, said the company was preparing a statement.

The case is U.S. v. Freeman, 10-CR-00766, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). Click HERE for the original article)

Posted in GOV. CONTRACTORS, Indictments, Convictions & Arrests, KBR Contract, LOGCAP III - KBR, Reports & Investigations. Tags: Daniel Freeman, James Cott, John Meringolo, KBR Convictions. 21 Comments »

Defense Cover-up Management Agency (DCMA) – Part 1

August 25, 2010 — Keven L. Barnes

Former DCMA employee and US Air Force MSgt Keven L. Barnes at the original US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq

This is Part 1 in a series of original articles to be published on MsSparky.com by former DCMA QAR Keven L. Barnes discussing his personal experiences with the oversight of KBR’s LOGCAP III contract.

We all know Dick Cheney’s agenda when he directed the LOGCAP III contract be sole sourced and awarded to KBR. KBR’s LOGCAP III contract has been tainted with accusations of fraud, waste, abuse and rape. They are accused of overcharging the US Government and contract violations. Most disturbingly KBR is accused of exposing hundreds of US National Guard troops to deadly toxins at Qarmat Ali. They are accused of negligence in exposing hundreds if not thousands of troops and civilians to deadly burn pit smoke and they are accused of shoddy electrical work that has killed soldiers and more than likely civilians as well. We are just now realizing who their accomplices to these allegations are. The corruption, ineptness, and cover-up by both the U.S. Army and the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) have contributed to KBR’s ability to commit these acts of fraud, waste and abuse over and over again.

I was in my 21st year with the U.S. Air Force. I had worked for the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) while deployed and put on Active Duty with the U.S. Air Force Reserves IMA (Individual Mobilization Augmentee) program. I had served previously in the Active Duty Air Force, the California Air National Guard, and finally in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. I discovered DCMA had only 3 Master Sergeant (MSgt) slots for the entire United States. As a MSgt myself, I felt the odds of landing a DCMA position was slim. The DCMA had a program called the Contingency Contracting Administration Services (CCAS) and it would allow me to deploy to Iraq. I volunteered for this program. I wanted to be in the heart of it in the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq and I wanted to be there for Christmas 2004.

After I arrived in the Green Zone I learned my assignment was to oversee the KBR LOGCAP III contract. They sent me as a Contracts Administrator. But, because an unlimited warrant was needed (the authorization to approve contract actions needed an unlimited dollar authority – which I did not have) I ended up working with U.S. Air Force Major Jimmy Hammonds in Operations and assisted Contracting Officer, Navy Lt., Russell Baum.

DCMA wrote Letters Of Technical Direction (LOTD) which were nothing more than open checkbooks to KBR. LOTD’s were written for any item that was floated and approved by the State Department Liaison Officer, Harold Price. I must have heard the speech a hundred times. DCMA supported 1700 organizations in the Green Zone and 60 cents on the dollar was going for life-support services that KBR was contracted to do. This included living accommodations, trailers, water, 5 DFACs (Dining Facilities), soft cars, hard cars (armored) with maintenance and fuel, offices, office supplies and equipment, and so on. 40 cents on the dollar was spent in the Green Zone on the military. As a part of their support contracts KBR supported the DCMA as well. This conflict if interest is established.

Aftermath of Iraq car bomb (Courtesy of Keven L. Barnes)

Car bombs went off at a rate of 2 or 3 times each morning and rockets and mortars rained in daily. We had a new Quality Assurance Representative (QAR), named John Golden. He had just arrived in the Green Zone in early January. I advised him if KBR needed to have something signed off at one of the 6 Green Zone checkpoints, it would be wise not to go in the mornings because the car bombs went off daily in the morning. “Maybe go in the afternoon” I recommended. 45 minutes later at approximately 3:30pm a huge car bomb went off at a nearby checkpoint. He gave me an odd look and I said, “Maybe that isn’t such a good time either.” The “insurgents” were targeting the Green Zone checkpoints trying to kill Iraqi workers who were working for American companies in the Green Zone and they were succeeding.

At first people would dive under desks at every car bomb, mortar and rocket. But and after a couple of weeks, we didn’t even miss a keystroke. We would turn our air conditioning up and pull our body armor over for a blanket. The only time we might get running was if giant footsteps were approaching which were mortars getting “walked in” – then it was time to get moving.

The morning of the January 29, 2005, was the day of Iraq’s first elections and I had to hand it to them – they kept voting despite vest bombers going off in the lines. By 10 AM I heard 80 vest bombers blow up within earshot of the Republican Palace in the Green Zone and it continued all day. Early that evening I heard what I thought was an F-15 fly across the top of my trailer. This was no F-15, it was a rocket, but unlike other rockets I had seen there was no flash as it disappeared into the side of the South wing of the U.S. Embassy. This rocket flew in from over 9 miles away and killed civilian Barbara Heald and Navy Lt CDR Keith Taylor . That rocket came in at a high angle and ricocheted off the floor and killing Ms. Heald. It ricocheted again hitting the Lt Commander killing him and injuring several others.

The Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) worked out of the room adjacent to Ms. Heald. DCMA Commander Colonel Miles ordered anything with blood on it was to be burned in the KBR Burn Pit located in the Green Zone and DCMA QAR John Golden was to oversee it. John Golden was left unprotected wearing only his body armor, in the open and exposed to the “other” side of the Tigris River. Known to all of us as “The Red Zone”. It took 3 long days to dispose of the the bloody refuse. At this point Mr. John Golden chose to resign.

It was then I was appointed the lone DCMA Quality Assurance Representative (QAR) for the entire Green Zone. I didn’t think DCMA could be too serious about oversight if I was being appointed to take over the duty. I receive no training and no instructions. I was just the token DCMA QAR. There were 42 KBR Statement of Procedures (SOP) I was apparently required to inspect. Unsure of what I was required to do to perform these task, I contacted two QAR’s from Camp Victory. They gave me the checklists they used and said just inspect to those standards.

When I initially tried to inspect KBR’s compliance with the 42 SOP’s, KBR’s own Contract Administrator Taryk Ferris tried to inform me “KBR really didn’t agree to that. Those SOP’s were just sort of advisory.” Evidently that tactic had worked in the past. When I discussed this KBR response with my QAR counterparts from Camp Victory, they pointedly informed Mr. Ferris and the KBR Project Manager there would be inspections and they needed to get ready. As I listened to this conversation (actually it was more of a scolding) I was thinking “Get ready?”. Being inspected to the SOP’s was apparently a new and disturbing concept to KBR. I wondered just how long the DCMA had NOT been inspecting KBR to the SOPs? What had the previous QARs been doing? Apparently nothing if KBR somehow thought that 42 Statement of Procedures (SOP’s) were only “suggestions”? I experienced first hand how KBR wanted me to sign off on inspections over a cup of coffee. I was asked to sign off on 9 smoke detectors in US Ambassador Negroponte’s villa – that were never installed. How hard was that to get done? Two screws or self-adhesive and they simply were not there and yet I was expected to sign it off as complete. I saw project after project not completed.

I think that is enough for my introductory post at MsSparky.com. I have volumes to share and I have the documents and photos to support my claims. Nothing classified of course. If anyone thinks KBR has had adequate oversight on their LOGCAP III contract they are sorely mistaken.