Saturday’s Washington Post has more news about the competition for the Iraq security contract currently held by Tim Spicer’s Aegis. Apparently, one of the rival bidders is Armorgroup, another British firm which recently beat Aegis to a major contract in Aghanistan.
Aegis faced some questions after it won the first contract, including a
special inspector report that found that the firm had not properly
vetted some of its Iraqi employees. But some private security
contractors now view Aegis as the front-runner to win the new contract
because it already is entrenched in running wide-ranging Reconstruction
Operations Centers throughout Iraq. Aegis, a private firm, is believed
to be smaller than ArmorGroup, which employs about 9,000 people and
oversees operations in 38 countries. Kristi M. Clemens, Aegis’s
executive vice president, declined to comment, except to say, "We stand
by our performance on the past contract." (Washington Post)
Meanwhile Ohio Democrat Marcy Kaptur has been asking more questions about Aegis and other contractors in congressional hearings:
The inspector general’s office found that Aegis Defense Services,
which has thousands of contract personnel in Iraq, has not fully
performed its contract responsibilities, [Investigator Joseph] McDermott said.The
company also has failed to sufficiently document employees — many of
whom work as security personnel — who carry weapons in Iraq. Another
contract with a potential value of $1.8 billion to create an Iraqi
police training program awarded to Dyncorp International Inc. in
February 2004 and was canceled late that year, but the company
continued to receive money until 2006, McDermott said.The State
Department found that more than $36 million in weapons and other
equipment at the training program were not accounted for. "I think some
of what you’ve said is shocking," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio. (CongressDaily, via GovExec.Com)
Related Posts: 8 May 2007 Congresswoman wins new audit of Aegis contract
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