[Media-watch] Iraq: Report Rips SAIC Over Contracts

[David Miller {FMS}]

Iraq: Report Rips SAIC Over Contracts

by Bruce V. Bigelow, Union-Tribune
March 25th, 2004

In a scathing report yesterday, the Pentagon's inspector general sharply
criticized contracts issued last year to San Diego's SAIC for reconstruction
and humanitarian work in Iraq.
The inspector general's findings were part of a broader review of two dozen
relatively small contracts issued in the months after U.S. troops moved into
Baghdad. The report found Pentagon procurement rules were not followed in 22
of 24 deals awarded by the Defense Contracting Command.
Defense auditors said there were initially no written plans or strategies and
no acquisition support for reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in
post-war Iraq. As a result, these defense acquisitions were plagued by poor
planning and inadequate government oversight.
In particular, defense auditors highlighted problems with SAIC's work to
create a free and independent Iraqi Media Network, or IMN, that was
ostensibly to be modeled on Britain's BBC.
The Defense Contracting Command awarded the $15 million contract to SAIC on
March 11, 2003, without an acquisition plan or competitive bidding. By the
end of September, however, SAIC's costs under the contract had escalated to
$82.3 million.

more at http://www.warprofiteers.com/article.php?id=11221