Military contractors are hard to fire

[cal04]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080202/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_contracts

ITT Federal Services International, a defense contractor hired to maintain battle gear for U.S. troops in Iraq, repeatedly failed to do the job right.

Combat vehicles ITT declared as repaired and ready for action flunked inspections and had to be fixed again. Equipment to be sanitized for return to the United States was found caked with dirt. And ITT's computer database for tracking the work was rife with errors.

Formal "letters of concern" were sent to the contractor. Still, the Army didn't fire ITT. Instead, it gave the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based company more work to do. Since October 2004, ITT has been paid $638 million through the Global Maintenance and Supply Services contract.

The Army's ongoing arrangement with ITT, detailed in an audit from the Government Accountability Office, shows how captive the military has become to the private sector for overseas support. Even when contractors don't measure up, dismissing them may not be an option because of the heavy pace of operations.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., co-author of legislation creating a special commission to examine wartime contracting, said poor-performing contractors are more likely to get bonuses than to be penalized.

[flashl]

1. Cronyism. Impossible to fire? Follow money trail. nt

[Thothmes]

2. Has nothing to do with Cronyism

Terminating a contract with a business is very difficult and hard to do and it always has been. Particularly if the SBA is in any way involved. Back In the mid-90s the Navy tried to terminate Ship repair contracts with a number of small yards that were clearly in over their head with the contract. Congressional pressure,and in come cases SBA policies make it impossible to terminate a contract with a substandard business. In one case, the Navy ordered the ship towed out of the yard, and moved to another yard. They then paid the incompetent ship yard the balance of their contract fees to get out from it. Then they negotiated a no bid cost plus + award fee contract with the other shipyard to undo the damage already done and get the ship back in action. This sort of crap has been going on for decades.

[ThomWV]

3. Every Government Contract Contains 2 Termination Clauses

The first is termination for the convienence of the Government, which means the Government may end any contract it enters at any time by simply notifying the other party to the contract that the contract no longer exists. In this event the Government is liable for termination costs. The second termination clause is termination for cause, it is used when the Government discovers that the Contractor has not or can not deliver whatever is contracted for, be it good or service. In this case it is the Contractor is is responsible for delivery so it will be the contractor who will pay for the re-procurement of the original good or service by the Government.