WASHINGTON - The Army will rebid the multibillion dollar contract under which a Halliburton Co. subsidiary has been providing services to troops around the world after years of complaints over how the deal has worked in Iraq.
Critics of the contract said the move was overdue and that hundreds of millions of dollars had probably been wasted.
Halliburton subsidiary KBR, also known as Kellogg Brown & Root, provides food, water, shelter, laundry service and other logistical support for troops under a 2001 contract that has been extended several times.
Halliburton is a Texas-based oil services conglomerate once led by Vice President Dick Cheney. Bush administration officials have come under fire since the beginning of the war in Iraq for awarding more than $10 billion to the company and its subsidiaries in 2003 and 2004, some of it in no-bid contracts. There have been allegations of fraud, poor work, overpricing and other abuse, which the company has denied.
"It has taken them far too long," Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said of the Army. "I believe literally hundreds of millions, and probably billions, of dollars have been wasted it's almost an unbelievable amount of waste and abuse and likely fraud."
"Taxpayers can breathe easier knowing that the days of $45 cases of soda and $100 bags of laundry are coming to a close," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
The Washington Post reported the decision to end Halliburton's contract Wednesday, saying the Army had paid KBR $7 billion under the contract last year and is expected to pay between $4 billion and $5 billion this year.
Halliburton's Norcross said KBR with some 50,000 employees and subcontractors has won outstanding performance ratings from the government for its work under the contract.
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