June 27, 2005: High Ranking Contracting Official Blasts Halliburton Contract at Hearing

Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, the highest ranking contracting official at the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), testifies before the Democratic Policy Committee. She criticizes how the Restore Iraqi Oil (RIO) contract was awarded to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Browning, & Root (KBR). “I can unequivocally state that the abuse related to contracts awarded to KBR represents the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed during the course of my professional career.” She notes that there were several irregularities in the USACE’s contract with KBR to restore Iraqi oil:
The independence of the USACE contracting process was severely compromised. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) controlled “every aspect of the RIO contract,” even after responsibility for the contract was delegated to the US Army.
She questioned why the Defense Department had delegated executive agency authority for the RIO contract to the Corps when it has no competencies related to oil production. Such work was outside the scope of its congressionally-mandated mission.
The Defense Department paid KBR to prepare for oil production restoration work before the RIO contract was even awarded. The payments were made under the already operational Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP), the scope of which did not include such work. Greenhouse said that the US government should have signed a new contract with KBR for this work. When she questioned the legality of these payments, she was incorrectly told that a new contract was being issued. [Democratic Policy Committee, 6/27/2005 ]