From the Businessweek article:
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The company has provided similar work after major disasters in the United States and abroad for more than 15 years, including in Florida after Hurricane Andrew.
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Why is this a problem? KBR has a history of doing work for the Navy, the Navy seems to be happy with the work they have done in the past, and when the contract came up back in July, KBR put in a competitive bid and won the contract.
KBR is one of the largest construction companies in the world, why is it so difficult to believe that they got that way by winning competitive bids?
As an analogy, would it make sense every time your car needs work, do you go to every mechanic in the area and get an estimate before choosing a wrench? Or does it make sense to give preference to a shop that has done good work in the past?
Sherwood, the links you provide don't really have much to do with each other. The first explains how the contracts are/were awarded, the second lists the complaints of a couple of whistleblowers. I have no reason to doubt their claims, and with a company that big, and a project that large, there will certainly be some problems. One thing I did find interesting was this:
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Mayberry said KBR would pay $13 to $15 for a box of tomatoes flown in from Philadelphia even though a local box of tomatoes cost only $5. Same goes for bacon. KBR would purchase an $80 box of bacon flown in from Philadelphia even though a local box cost only $12.
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Tomatoes I can see, but bacon? I am surprised to hear that in a predominantly Muslim country, there are enough pig farms to supply enough bacon to feed the U.S. military and contractors.
It also makes me wonder what agricultural controls are in place locally to ensure the quality of the local produce. What pesticides are used in Iraq? There may be valid reasons for not buying the local stuff, we really don't know. I really doubt a website called "halliburtonwatch" is all that concerned about finding out.
You know if they bought pigs locally, some farm country politician would be screaming about how our brave boys in uniform are being fed non USDA approved meat.
Tom