Here come the non-bid and bid contractors for Katrina relief:

Shaw Group Inc. recieved a $100 million emergency FEMA contract for housing management and construction. Shaw also clinched a $100 million order on Friday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root, approximately $500 million for military and civilian reconstruction.

Bechtel National Inc. an engineering and construction firm that is now on the scene in Gulf states to provide emergency housing relief

Fluor Corp. of Aliso Viejo, Calif. heads up operations for the Housing Area Command. An engineering and construction firm, it is now in Louisiana beginning construction on temporary housing units that will provide electricity, potable water and sanitary sewage facilities.

CH2M Hill of Denver will be working on providing housing in Alabama.

Dewberry Technologies of Fairfax, Virginia, will provide planning and reporting support.

Tennessee-based Clayton Homes is the country's largest manufactured housing company and has operations in Waco. Clayton officials on Sunday got an order from FEMA to ship 1,800 homes to a staging area outside Texarkana.

The Louisiana state Department of Development and Transportation awarded Boh Bros. Construction Co. of New Orleans the contract to repair the twin span which is a bridge system connecting New Orleans and St. Tammany Parish. The bid reportedly was $30.9 billion dollars.

So ...you complain it took so long...then you want a open bidding process that would have taken weeks at a minimum to complete?

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

BHD, there's nothing wrong with emergency non-bid government contracting, just as there's nothing wrong with having audits to assure that we, the American people footing the bill, aren't getting overcharged for gasoline, logistical support, kickbacks, bribes . . . you know. Otherwise, it might seem that you have no problem with the potential for illegal activities, but that's not true, right?

What of it besides the fact that haliburton is there? Oh, it is the VP's old company. I suppose they can never work anywhere since the VP used to run it, right? I can charge any price I want for my product. If you can find someone else that can do it cheaper, good for you. Don't want to pay what I want, find someone else to do it or DIY.

Now, if you can prove they bribed the person awarding the contracts so that they and only they get it or they exceed their contract, that is somethign else.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Again, it's not the awarding of the contracts to "friends & family" but the bigger harm is how the resources are utilized. That's what auditors do.

http://money.excite.com/ht/nw/bus/20050910/hle_bus-dit053951.html

__________________
72 W114/M130

RedMeat cartoon

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Hi MTI,

When Clinton's government was in power, they used Haliburton to rebuild the damage done by the US in Afghanistan.
Also, after Hurricane Andrew Haliburton had some involvement.

If you think that auditors work for free, you are mistaken.. It could be said that only Left-Leaning auditors could give an honest appraisal of the bribes and cost overruns, but we all know that those "facts" might be a little/lot slanted as well...

Maybe congress should make a call to theTV renovator/detective "Holmes on Homes" for an honest critique of any rip-offs in the reconstruction..?
http://www.holmesonhomes.com/

Ron (Canada)

Hello Ron, I enjoy visiting your country, it's wonderful beer and colorful money. The coin with the moose is particularly fetching.

I could care less if Halliburton or the Bush twins got the contract for reconstruction. The lesson learned from past non-bid contracts is that the taxpayers get ripped off unless someone with the cajones (whoops, wrong border country term) to review and question the expenditures. I'm hoping that they send Bunnatine Greenhouse as soon as possible.

wRONg enRON RONwan CANADA you da man

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Hi Busy,

I know my name does not fit in but you forgot to mention WorldCom and Global Crossing..... without which the internet that AlGore invented would not have been such a money-maker for those dot-com billionaires... Did you ever wonder if the likes of Kenneth Lay are left or right leaning
oportunists?

Ron (Canada)

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Hi MTI,

"I'm hoping that they send Bunnatine Greenhouse as soon as possible."

Are you trying to say that there is a left-connection to "global warming" with all those
greenhouse gasses?

When Bush got wind of the overcharging by Haliburton for their "GAS" services in Iraq, didn't he claw back some of their booty?
I think that was an example of "cajones". I can't see the media making such a fuss if it was Bill
in office.

Ron (Canada)

Well, there were overcharges for gas and for cafeteria services . . . $61M for fuel and $67M for food services . . . Haliburton expensed a CPA official who lived at the Kuwaiti Hilton for $700 a night. The inspector general's office also criticized Halliburton for charging $191,000 a year for laundry services. . .pretty soon we're talking about some real money.

As for their record in the Balkans under Pres. Clinton, the U.S. Justice Department was investigating Halliburton for possible over billing on government services work done in the Balkans from 1996 through 2000. The charges stem from a General Accounting Office report that found in 1997 that Halliburton billed the Army for questionable expenses for work in the Balkans, including charges of $85.98 per sheet of plywood that cost $14.06. A follow-up report by the GAO in 2000 found inflated costs, including charges for cleaning some offices up to four times a day.

Here's a stroll thru memory lane:

May 28, 1999—Army Corps awards the Balkans Support Contract to KBR.

January 2002—Top Army Corps contracting official Bunnatine Greenhouse establishes a team to review the implementation of the Balkans Support Contract.

November 2002—Army Corps tasked KBR to develop an oil contingency plan to extinguish oil well fires in Iraq.

February 26, 2003—Greenhouse raises concern in a Pentagon meeting regarding the RIO contract.

March 5, 2003—According to a June 2004 story in Time magazine, a March 5, 2003, e-mail written by an Army Corps official referred to the awarding of the oil restoration contract as having been "coordinated" with Vice President Richard Cheney's office, an allegation that was denied by the vice president's spokesman.

March 8, 2003—Army Corps awards no-bid Restore Iraqi Oil contract to KBR.

March 24, 2003—Army Corps publicly announces that KBR has been awarded the RIO contract.

December 2003—Defense Contract Audit Agency issues a draft report saying that KBR had overcharged for fuel purchases by $61 million.

January 13, 2004—An audit report from the Defense Contract Audit Agency found several deficiencies in KBR's billing system. A second audit report was released on May 13, 2004.

January 14, 2004—Army Corps Deputy Commander Major General Robert Griffin takes over contracting responsibilities in order to conduct an "independent review" of the second RIO contract.

February 2004—The Pentagon's Inspector General launches a criminal investigation into whether KBR overcharged the government while it was importing fuel from Kuwait to Iraq. KBR was not notified of any investigation.

May 27, 2004—The Balkans Support Contract is scheduled to expire. Army Corps allows KBR to continue as the contractor until April 30, 2005.

August 20, 2004—Bunnatine Greenhouse expresses her reservations in writing about the 11-month extension to KBR's Balkans Support Contract.

August 24, 2004—Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Policy and Procurement) Tina Ballard communicates to Major General Robert Griffin, the deputy commander of the Army Corps, that Greenhouse needs to be told that she can "no longer include handwritten comments on official documents."

October 5, 2004—Greenhouse learns that the Justification and Approval document was altered by the director of contracting for the Transatlantic Programs Center on instructions from the Department of the Army's General Counsel office. Greenhouse was never given any reasons for altering the document and did not see a final copy of the Justification and Approval. The J&A was instead signed by her deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Doyle, who was not authorized to sign on her behalf.

October 6, 2004—Greenhouse was informed by two individuals that Tina Ballard made the change for "political reasons."

October 7, 2004—Greenhouse signs an earlier copy of the J&A document. She added handwritten contingencies on her acceptance. The document was rejected.

October 8, 2004—A revised J&A is issued. The document carries Lieutenant Colonel Norbert S. Doyle's name. Greenhouse's name has been removed.

October 21, 2004—A letter from Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto LLP, Bunnatine Greenhouse's lawyers, is sent to acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee asking for an independent investigation.

Auditors represent me. Let them audit, but with no reward for finding either cupidity or honesty.

B