WASHINGTON POST: CALIFORNIA CONTRACTOR PAID $142 MILLION BY U.S. FOR IRAQ PROJECTS NEVER COMPLETED

U.S. Says Contractor Made Little Progress on Iraq Projects

By Dana Hedgpeth and Amit R. PaleyWashington Post Staff Writers
Monday, July 28, 2008; A02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/27/AR2008072701768.html

The U.S. government paid a California contractor $142 million to build prisons, fire stations and police facilities in Iraq that it never built or finished, according to audits by a watchdog office.

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said Parsons of Pasadena, Calif., received the money, part of a total of $333 million but only completed about one-third of the projects, which also included courthouses and border control stations. The inspector general's office is expected to release two detailed audits today, evaluating Parsons's work on the contract, which is worth up to $900 million.

"Far less was accomplished under this contract than originally planned," the inspector general wrote. "Millions of dollars in waste are likely associated with incomplete, terminated and abandoned projects under this contract." Auditors did not give a dollar figure of how much had potentially been wasted, but they said Parsons got about 10 percent -- or $11.3 million -- of the $108 million of award fees it could have received.

Parsons said in a written statement yesterday that it had "some serious reservations about the conclusions" in the audits, saying the company was hindered by the violent and unstable security situation in Iraq. One of Parsons's subcontractors was shot and killed at close range while in his office, the company said.

Continue reading Washington Post story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/27/AR2008072701768.html