Friday, February 16, 2007
Audit - $10 billion squandered on reconstruction
Reconstruction
(AP) About $10 billion has been squandered by the U.S. government on Iraq reconstruction aid because of contractor overcharges and unsupported expenses, and federal investigators warned Thursday that significantly more taxpayer money is at risk.
The three top auditors overseeing work in Iraq told a House committee their review of $57 billion in Iraq contracts found that Defense and State department officials condoned or allowed repeated work delays, bloated expenses and payments for shoddy work or work never done. More than one in six dollars charged by U.S. contractors were questionable or unsupported, nearly triple the amount of waste the Government Accountability Office estimated last fall.
The three top auditors overseeing work in Iraq told a House committee their review of $57 billion in Iraq contracts found that Defense and State department officials condoned or allowed repeated work delays, bloated expenses and payments for shoddy work or work never done. More than one in six dollars charged by U.S. contractors were questionable or unsupported, nearly triple the amount of waste the Government Accountability Office estimated last fall.
The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) identified over $90 million in questioned and unsupported costs when auditing Parsons, who hold contracts to the value of over $2.2 billion for reconstruction. An additional $2.7 billion was questioned under Halliburton's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) and Restore Iraqi Oil (RIO). Halliburton hold contracts to the approximate value of $25.7 billion.
So far, the Bush administration has spent more than $350 billion on the Iraq war and reconstruction effort.
Labels: audit, Halliburton, parsons, reconstruction
