enhanced_deficit
02-21-2014, 10:52 AM
'Windfalls of war': Companies with spotty records making billions off Afghanistan
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos (http://www.foxnews.com/archive/kelley-vlahos)
Published February 20, 2014
Feb. 10, 2014: U.S. soldiers secure the site where a suicide attacker rammed a car bomb into a NATO convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan.AP
The United States government has paid a company based in Switzerland more than $5 billion to feed the troops in Afghanistan, and thanks to a succession of no-bid contract extensions, the company, Supreme Foodservice, overcharged American taxpayers as much as $757 million, officials say.
The U.S. has appropriated more than $100 billion for Afghan reconstruction, which includes not only building and development, but training and arming the Afghan security forces -- and the dispute over the massive payments to this single company is just one example of how, more than 12 years into the war, America is struggling to account for how its money has been spent.
So who's getting rich off the war?
A review conducted by FoxNews.com shows several companies with questionable track records have been able to snag a sizable piece of the pie.
While Supreme Foodservice, a foreign firm, has profited immensely, several American companies have also made out like kings despite delays, accusations of shoddy construction and prolonged contract disputes over the last dozen years.
The biggest American benefactors of contracts in Afghanistan in recent years have been DynCorp International, KBR and Fluor Corporation -- though Fluor has not faced complaints like the other two.
Critics say no-bid contracts -- which grant companies a monopoly on huge deals without having to compete for them -- and a lack of oversight on those contracts once they've been awarded have contributed not only to the enormous sums spent, but to waste, fraud and abuse, as well.
"This is the byproduct of what has been an explosive growth in federal contracting over the last decade or so," said Neil Gordon, an investigator for the Washington, D.C.-based Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and the manager of the watchdog's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,221,html?ContractorID=59&ranking=23).
"Contracting has grown at an incredible pace -- especially after 9/11. The terror attacks really touched it off, especially in national security, and unfortunately, government oversight of that contracting hasn't kept pace. That's why we are seeing all of these problems of fraud and waste and other abuses."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/20/windfalls-war-contractors-with-spotty-records-made-billions-off-afghanistan/
So these companies forgot to buy ads on Foxnews/payoff someone... or some tiny glimpse of honest journalism is returning in US media?
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos (http://www.foxnews.com/archive/kelley-vlahos)
Published February 20, 2014
Feb. 10, 2014: U.S. soldiers secure the site where a suicide attacker rammed a car bomb into a NATO convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan.AP
The United States government has paid a company based in Switzerland more than $5 billion to feed the troops in Afghanistan, and thanks to a succession of no-bid contract extensions, the company, Supreme Foodservice, overcharged American taxpayers as much as $757 million, officials say.
The U.S. has appropriated more than $100 billion for Afghan reconstruction, which includes not only building and development, but training and arming the Afghan security forces -- and the dispute over the massive payments to this single company is just one example of how, more than 12 years into the war, America is struggling to account for how its money has been spent.
So who's getting rich off the war?
A review conducted by FoxNews.com shows several companies with questionable track records have been able to snag a sizable piece of the pie.
While Supreme Foodservice, a foreign firm, has profited immensely, several American companies have also made out like kings despite delays, accusations of shoddy construction and prolonged contract disputes over the last dozen years.
The biggest American benefactors of contracts in Afghanistan in recent years have been DynCorp International, KBR and Fluor Corporation -- though Fluor has not faced complaints like the other two.
Critics say no-bid contracts -- which grant companies a monopoly on huge deals without having to compete for them -- and a lack of oversight on those contracts once they've been awarded have contributed not only to the enormous sums spent, but to waste, fraud and abuse, as well.
"This is the byproduct of what has been an explosive growth in federal contracting over the last decade or so," said Neil Gordon, an investigator for the Washington, D.C.-based Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and the manager of the watchdog's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (http://www.contractormisconduct.org/index.cfm/1,73,221,html?ContractorID=59&ranking=23).
"Contracting has grown at an incredible pace -- especially after 9/11. The terror attacks really touched it off, especially in national security, and unfortunately, government oversight of that contracting hasn't kept pace. That's why we are seeing all of these problems of fraud and waste and other abuses."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/02/20/windfalls-war-contractors-with-spotty-records-made-billions-off-afghanistan/
So these companies forgot to buy ads on Foxnews/payoff someone... or some tiny glimpse of honest journalism is returning in US media?