?? Regarding Halliburton/Bechtel no-bid contracts in Iraq/Afghanistan

Were there any other companies that could realistically have bid to take on the jobs there? That is, they would have had equipment and personnel in Asia, up to the task of running a general-purpose contracting biz for basic construction and maintenance services. Not stuff as rare as, say, the oil-field repairs, which would be a KBR specialty.

International American Products, Perini Corporation and Contrack International, Science Applications International Corp (SAIC).

I have no clue how 'rare' they are but I did a google search and came up with some of these companies that also had no bid contracts.

on edit: couldnt find any company names that were rejected or had capacity.

In 2003, Perini Corp. got $525,000,000 in contracts, while SAIC got $38,000,000.

I remember reading about a company in Texas that was begging for some of the Halliburton or KBR contracts and would do it for less money. Seems it was a respected company. No go. Security clearances was the reason given for the no-bid contracts. Security clearances given to companies that have repeatedly broken labor, environmental and safety laws and been fined for over-billing and other violations. It's crazy. They are given the contracts and grow to the size they are because of their connections, then turn around and say nobody else can do the job because they're not large enough. Which smaller companies never will be because they don't have the connections.

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http://bechtel.com/iraqallegationresponse.htm

"Bechtel’s contract with USAID for the Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction work was awarded in April 2003 after a competitive process in which seven companies were invited to bid. USAID conducted its selection using objective criteria that followed Federal Acquisition Regulations. Each competitor was judged on competence, performance, experience, and capabilities. According to USAID, Bechtel was selected because we demonstrated the highest technical competence at one of the lowest costs.
Many critics, apparently including Congressman Waxman, have confused the USAID contract competitively awarded to Bechtel with the noncompetitive award to Halliburton/KBR by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. These are two completely different contracts awarded by different agencies according to different procedures. Each deserves to be evaluated on its own merits."


"As of October 24, 2003, Bechtel had awarded 110 of 149 subcontracts to Iraqi firms. Before the work is completed, more than 40,000 Iraqis will have been employed by Bechtel and its subcontractors in the extraordinary effort to reconstruct their nation. In order to increase the cost-effectiveness of the work, and to help revitalize the Iraqi economy, Bechtel decided to award the vast majority of the subcontracting work to small Iraqi subcontractors. We are subcontracting 90 percent of the workhours performed on this project, 70 percent of which will go to Iraqi firms. With the exception of the port dredging (because it required a very large dredger not available in Iraq), security, and vendor representatives for high-tech equipment and camps for staff, most of the work we have awarded to date has gone to small Iraqi contractors.

Because many small Iraqi contractors do not have sufficient working capital to perform the work, Bechtel instituted a program to advance funds to many of these contractors, at no cost to them."

Seems like Bechtel is actually trying to do the right thing.

construction and engineering company for years, and still has it's home office in San Francisco.

One reason why Bechtel can come in less expensive is because they have equipment/engineers/suppliers globally. Bechtel doesn't have to bring it from the U.S.


Since 1898, four generations of Bechtels have led a privately held business through more than 20,000 projects in 140 nations on all seven continents.

Bechtel is probably the best example of Americana "boy makes good" success story left to tell.

anymore than anyone in Iraq. Remember before the Gulf War, some contractors were held hostage, they were Bechtel employees. Michael Keaton was in a movie about it, it was on HBO, I think it was about CNN.

In particular, if anyone knows the name of the construction firm that sandnsea says would have bid against Halliburton given the chance, I'd like a pointer. Thx.