USAToday: KBR charged $110 million to service bases that had been shut down

[sabra]

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070717/a_iraqkbr17.art.htm

Audit questioned $2.2B of KBR's invoices, proposals

Government auditors discovered something odd last year when they reviewed KBR Inc.'s annual cost estimate to provide support services for U.S. troops in Iraq. The contractor proposed charging $110 million for housing, food, water, laundry and other services on bases that had been shut down.

KBR got a contract extension for $3.7 billion, but it agreed to drop the proposed $110 million spending on closed bases and an additional $50 million of duplicate charges and math errors, according to Defense Department records obtained by USA TODAY under the Freedom of Information Act.

Linda Theis of the Army Sustainment Command, the agency that oversees KBR's troop-support contract, downplayed the errors. They amount to just 4.3% of the contract amount, she said. "This percentage does not indicate a systemic weakness in business systems."

...

The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) has challenged nearly $2.2 billion of KBR's invoices and cost proposals. The Army has resolved nearly $1.3 billion of those questioned costs, paying KBR only $804 million, records show.

[saltpoint]

1. Billable hours in the Mesopotamian Desert.

Alexander would puke to see what had become of his capital.

[thereismore]

2. Privatize the war, pay the bill. I'm surprised there are any audits at all. nt

[Frances]

3. Privatization is just another name

for Bush transferring taxpayer money to his buddies.

This morning on NPR I heard Bush saying he would veto gov't insurance for poor children because some children would get gov't insurance rather than private insurance!