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Baghdad Bonanza: The Top 100 Private Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan

By MichaelVail
Created 11/21/2007 - 8:45pm

Public Integrity
Posted: 2007-11-21 20:34:47
[1]

 

KBR, Inc., the global engineering and construction giant, won more than $16 billion in U.S. government contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004 to 2006—far more than any other company, according to a new analysis by the Center for Public Integrity. In fact, the total dollar value of contracts that went to KBR [2]—which used to be known as Kellogg, Brown, and Root and until April 2007 was a subsidiary of Halliburton—was nearly nine times greater than those awarded to DynCorp International [3], a private security firm that is No. 2 on the Center's list of the top 100 recipients of Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction funds.

Another private security company, Blackwater USA [4], whose employees recently killed as many as 17 Iraqi civilians in what the Iraqi government alleges was an unprovoked attack, is 12th on the list of companies and joint ventures, with $485 million in contracts. (On November 14, the New York Times reported that FBI investigators have concluded that 14 of the 17 shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, and that Justice Department prosecutors are weighing whether to seek indictments.) First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting [5], which immediately precedes Blackwater on the Top 100, came under fire in July after a pair of whistleblowers told a House committee that the company essentially "kidnapped" low-paid foreign laborers brought in to help build the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad. First Kuwaiti and the U.S. State Department denied the charges.

Other key findings from the Center's analysis:

• Over the three years studied, more than $20 billion in contracts went to foreign companies [6] whose identities—at least so far—are impossible to determine.

• Nearly a third of the companies and joint ventures on the Top 100 are based outside the United States. These foreign contractors, along with the $20 billion in contracts awarded to the unidentified companies, account for about 45 percent of all funds obligated to the Top 100.

• U.S. government contracts for work in Iraq and Afghanistan have grown more than 50 percent annually, from $11 billion in 2004 to almost $17 billion in 2005 and more than $25 billion in 2006.

According to David Walker, the comptroller general of the United States, the outsourcing of government has escalated across the board over the past five years, although oversight of the process has shrunk during this same period. In an interview with the Center for Public Integrity, Walker noted particular problems with military contracting. "We have identified about 15 systemic, longstanding acquisition and contracting problems that exist within the Defense Department—which is the single biggest contractor within the U.S. government—that we are still not making enough progress on," said Walker, who heads the Government Accountability Office. "I mean, this stuff isn't rocket science."

While KBR earns the top spot among individual companies and their subsidiaries, the firm's $16 billion in obligated contracts is eclipsed by $20.4 billion in contracts that went to a nebulous collection of companies identified by the U.S. government only as "foreign contractors." The Center has filed a Freedom of Information request for the 50 largest contracts—collectively worth some $19.6 billion—awarded to these unnamed companies. The largest of these contracts is worth more than $6 billion—a sum that would catapult the unidentified recipient to the No. 2 spot on the Top 100.

In October 2003, when the Center published "Windfalls of War," Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown, and Root was also the top recipient of U.S. government contracts for the postwar effort, with more than $2.3 billion in awards over two years (see the story here [7]). By contrast, Bechtel, the only other company on that 2003 roster to have received more than $1 billion in awards, won a second large contract in January 2004—this one for $1.8 billion—but left Iraq after completing its work in March 2007. Since this Top 100 represents contracts newly awarded in fiscal years 2004 to 2006, Bechtel is not on the list.

When the 2003 study was published, federal agencies did not comprehensively distinguish war contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan from other government contracts; therefore, Center researchers had to flush out these contracts one by one. Since then, however, most such contracts list Iraq or Afghanistan as their "place of performance," making the contracting process more transparent and the search for data—available from the General Service Administration's Federal Procurement Data System—more methodical.

Unidentified Foreign Entities [8] $20,435,870,190 1 KBR Inc (formerly known as Kellogg Brown and Root) [9] $16,059,282,020 2 DynCorp International (Veritas Capital) [10] $1,838,156,100 3 Washington Group International Inc [11] $1,044,686,850 4 IAP Worldwide Services Inc (Cerberus Capital Management LP) [12] $901,973,910 5 Environmental Chemical Corp [13] $899,701,070 6 L-3 Communications Holdings Inc [14] $853,535,680 7 Fluor Corp [15] $736,853,200 8 Perini Corp [16] $720,859,110 9 Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) [17] $617,089,510 10 Parsons Corp [18] $579,265,450 11 First Kuwaiti General Trading And Contracting Company Wll [19] $495,404,500 12 Blackwater USA [20] $485,149,590 13 Tetra Tech Inc [21] $362,107,010 14 AMEC PLC [22] $317,171,280 15 Laguna Pueblo (Laguna Construction Company Inc) [23] $312,677,530 16 AECOM Technology Corp [24] $293,731,050 17 Toltest Inc [25] $266,595,130 18 Lockheed Martin Corp [26] $244,376,120 19 Weston Solutions Inc [27] $230,982,240 20 Red Star Enterprises Ltd [28] $193,374,320 21 U.S.-Afghanistan Reconstruction Council [29] $182,700,310 22 Triple Canopy Inc [30] $179,308,590 23 The Shaw Group Inc [31] $172,620,540 24 General Dynamics Corp [32] $172,543,070 25 Innovative Technical Solutions Inc [33] $170,377,130 26 USA Environmental Inc [34] $170,050,840 27 Ellis Environmental Group LC [35] $155,806,930 28 Petrol Ofisi A S [36] $147,515,700 29 EOD Technology Inc [37] $133,417,380 30 I and S Acquisition Corporation [38] $118,490,070 31 Refinery Associates of Texas Inc [39] $109,533,680 32 Mac International FZE [40] $102,442,020 33 CH2M HILL Companies Ltd [41] $102,158,710 34 Zafer Taahhut Insaat Ve Ticaret A S [42] $100,443,870 35 Cape Environmental Management Inc [43] $99,128,870 36 Odebrecht-Austin Joint Venture [44] $92,778,820 37 Aegis Defence Services Ltd [45] $92,310,680 38 CACI International Inc [46] $87,760,610 39 Verizon Communications Inc [47] $86,800,120 40 Framaco International Inc [48] $83,301,810 41 Ronco Consulting Corp [49] $82,408,030 42 Emta Insaat Taahhut Ve Ticaret A S [50] $78,674,140 43 Technologists Inc [51] $74,867,950 44 URS Corporation [52] $68,229,300 45 Tyco International Ltd [53] $67,451,230 46 Turcas Petrol A S [54] $59,265,080 47 Prime Projects International General Trading LLC [55] $56,971,380 48 Rizzani de Eccher SpA [56] $56,705,000 49 Trigeant Ltd [57] $48,556,690 50 The Boeing Co [58] $48,359,910 51 Harris Corp [59] $48,110,850 52 Zapata Engineering [60] $44,138,250 53 Berger Group Holdings Inc [61] $43,165,220 54 Camp Dresser and McKee Inc [62] $41,333,430 55 Erinys International Ltd [63] $40,559,570 56 Versar Inc [64] $36,810,230 57 Biltek Organizasyon Muh Basin Emlak Rekl Turz Ins Ve Tic Ltd Sti [65] $36,567,390 58 Sperian Protection SA [66] $33,343,900 59 United Infrastructure Projects [67] $30,820,000 60 RSEA Engineering [68] $30,612,300 61 URS Group-Louis Berger Group Joint Venture [69] $29,244,370 62 Raytheon Company [70] $27,383,230 63 SPARK Petrol [71] $26,829,610 64 ITT Corp [72] $26,616,410 65 Yuksel Insaat A S [73] $26,282,220 66 Northrop Grumman Corp [74] $26,234,720 67 Zenith Enterprises Ltd [75] $25,333,050 68 Amjad Dar Essalam Contracting Co [76] $24,433,200 69 Compass Group PLC [77] $24,328,640 70 Alfa Consult SA [78] $22,695,090 71 Environmental Quality Management Inc [79] $20,253,530 72 Al Hamra Kuwait Company [80] $19,520,630 73 Dogus Insaat Ve Ticaret A S [81] $18,564,140 74 Delta Petrol Urunleri Ticaret A S [82] $18,228,410 75 Kropp Holdings Inc [83] $17,743,640 76 SM Consulting Inc [84] $17,579,900 77 SHV Holdings NV [85] $17,315,250 78 Metag Insaat Ticaret A S [86] $16,835,000 79 Al-Khaffaf Group [87] $16,719,500 80 Stanley Baker Hill LLC [88] $16,673,910 81 Telford Aviation Inc [89] $16,553,450 82 SEI Group Inc [90] $16,460,090 83 CDM/Cape Joint Venture [91] $16,183,050 84 Watkinson LLC [92] $14,571,970 85 First Iraq Contracting Company [93] $13,551,540 86 AllWorld Language Consultant Inc [94] $13,135,540 87 MWH Global Inc [95] $12,204,600 88 Oshkosh Truck Corp [96] $12,000,000 89 Al Wadan Company [97] $11,690,000 90 Diplomat Freight Service Inc [98] $11,591,310 91 Concentric Project Controllers Inc [99] $11,153,810 92 Computer Sciences Corp [100] $11,096,860 93 Ho-Chunk Inc [101] $10,489,240 94 Coastal International Security Inc [102] $10,440,400 95 Global Innovation Partners LLC [103] $10,000,000 96 Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions LLC [104] $9,890,570 97 Detection Monitoring Technologies LLC [105] $9,681,100 98 Associates In Rural Development Inc [106] $9,549,130 99 ITAS Engineering [107] $8,868,910 100 OBD Construction Co [108]

Who Got What in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2004–2006

RankContract IDDepartmentContractorAmount
1 DAAA0902D0007 [109] Defense KBR Inc (formerly known as Kellogg Brown and Root) $15,447,831,814
2 W91GY006D6001 [110] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $6,083,781,531
3 SLMAQM04C0030 [111] State DynCorp International (Veritas Capital) $2,022,231,411
4 W91GER06D6001 [112] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $1,199,856,920
5 W91GXY06D6001 [113] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $1,143,080,801
6 DACA6303D0005 [114] Defense KBR Inc (formerly known as Kellogg Brown and Root) $1,110,850,779
7 W91GXX05D0001 [115] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $1,068,938,580
8 W91GY005D0001 [116] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $1,036,119,038
9 W91GEU06D6001 [117] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $1,017,216,015
10 W91GET06D6001 [118] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $788,908,449
11 W91GXY05D0001 [119] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $713,018,409
12 FA890304D8672 [120] Defense Environmental Chemical Corp $701,631,608
13 F3460197D0425 [121] Defense L-3 Communications Holdings Inc $537,120,730
14 W912ER04D0003 [122] Defense Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) $515,202,184
15 W91GFB06D6001 [123] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $507,222,972
16 W91GY105D0001 [124] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $486,913,401
17 DACA7803D0004 [125] Defense Washington Group International Inc $459,372,435
18 F0863702D6999 [126] Defense IAP Worldwide Services Inc (Cerberus Capital Management LP) $450,116,220
19 W91GXZ06D6001 [127] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $446,141,452
20 W91GY106D6001 [128] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $442,275,450
21 W91GF506D6001 [129] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $439,013,996
22 W912ER04D0008 [130] Defense Perini Corp $433,558,489
23 SAQMPD05D1098 [131] State Blackwater USA $422,390,292
24 W912ER04D0004 [132] Defense Fluor Corp $419,799,032
25 W91GXZ05D0001 [133] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $393,031,178
26 W91GXX06D6001 [134] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $390,415,902
27 W91GFL06D6001 [135] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $379,300,565
28 W91GF906D6001 [136] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $376,017,573
29 W912DY04D0005 [137] Defense Parsons Corp $368,376,897
30 W52P1J05D0004 [138] Defense AECOM Technology Corp $322,500,160
31 DACA7803D0005 [139] Defense Fluor Corp $321,841,969
32 DACA7803D0006 [140] Defense Perini Corp $317,265,394
33 W91B4M06D6001 [141] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $305,186,209
34 W912ER04D0005 [142] Defense KBR Inc (formerly known as Kellogg Brown and Root) $305,015,561
35 FA890304D8690 [143] Defense Laguna Pueblo (Laguna Construction Company Inc) $289,549,156
36 W91GET05D0001 [144] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $288,181,096
37 FA890304D8669 [145] Defense AMEC PLC $287,772,409
38 W91GER05D0001 [146] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $243,730,393
39 W914NS04D0010 [147] Defense Washington Group International Inc $242,594,658
40 FA890304D8677 [148] Defense Tetra Tech Inc $238,686,311
41 W91GEU05D0001 [149] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $234,820,178
42 W9126G04D0001 [150] Defense KBR Inc (formerly known as Kellogg Brown and Root) $228,100,000
43 FA890304D8681 [151] Defense Weston Solutions Inc $222,054,165
44 W91GXE06D6001 [152] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $208,278,256
45 SALMEC05C0020 [153] State First Kuwaiti General Trading And Contracting Company Wll $199,172,106
46 SP060006D1010 [154] Defense Red Star Enterprises Ltd $196,931,826
47 W912ER04D0010 [155] Defense Washington Group International Inc $189,043,588
48 W913TY05D9001 [156] Defense U.S.-Afghanistan Reconstruction Council $182,700,305
49 FA890304D8678 [157] Defense Toltest Inc $177,348,475
50 W912DY04D0006 [158] Defense USA Environmental Inc $175,692,711
51 W91GFL05D0001 [159] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $168,316,446
52 W916QW04D0011 [160] Defense IAP Worldwide Services Inc (Cerberus Capital Management LP) $155,805,900
53 W91CRB04D0004 [161] Defense General Dynamics Corp $152,899,140
54 FA890304D8680 [162] Defense Washington Group International Inc $151,177,806
55 SALMEC04C0008 [163] State Lockheed Martin Corp $144,323,011
56 SAQMPD04D0061 [164] State Blackwater USA $144,107,095
57 DJJ05C1161 [165] Justice L-3 Communications Holdings Inc $141,948,189
58 W912DY04D0011 [166] Defense Tetra Tech Inc $130,406,881
59 W91GF505D0001 [167] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $127,926,159
60 W912DY04D0018 [168] Defense EOD Technology Inc $127,428,620
61 W912CM05D0011 [169] Defense L-3 Communications Holdings Inc $121,940,367
62 FA890304D8676 [170] Defense The Shaw Group Inc $116,889,535
63 W91B4P06D6001 [171] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $114,817,914
64 SP060004D1017 [172] Defense Refinery Associates of Texas Inc $108,533,683
65 FA890306D8511 [173] Defense Environmental Chemical Corp $108,491,178
66 FA890304D8694 [174] Defense Ellis Environmental Group LC $104,892,373
67 SAQMPD05C1189 [175] State Triple Canopy Inc $104,344,007
68 W56HZV06DD044 [176] Defense Mac International FZE $99,443,490
69 FA890306D8513 [177] Defense Innovative Technical Solutions Inc $99,344,752
70 FA890304D8683 [178] Defense Cape Environmental Management Inc $99,128,868
71 W91GFC06D6001 [179] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $97,799,343
72 W912BU05D0002 [180] Defense IAP Worldwide Services Inc (Cerberus Capital Management LP) $95,251,029
73 W912ER04D0006 [181] Defense Odebrecht-Austin Joint Venture $92,778,821
74 W911S004C0003 [182] Defense Aegis Defence Services Ltd $92,310,681
75 SALMEC05C0019 [183] State First Kuwaiti General Trading And Contracting Company Wll $90,991,466
76 FA890306D8519 [184] Defense Toltest Inc $89,246,654
77 W91GY306D6001 [185] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $86,717,215
78 SP060005D1014 [186] Defense Petrol Ofisi A S $85,320,240
79 SALMEC05C0030 [187] State First Kuwaiti General Trading And Contracting Company Wll $85,319,830
80 DACA8700D0038 [188] Defense Parsons Corp $80,317,591
81 SALMEC05C0021 [189] State First Kuwaiti General Trading And Contracting Company Wll $77,740,502
82 SLMAQM99D0144 [190] State Ronco Consulting Corp $72,695,582
83 FA890304D8689 [191] Defense Innovative Technical Solutions Inc $71,032,378
84 FA890306D8520 [192] Defense URS Corporation $68,229,301
85 W912DY04D0008 [193] Defense Environmental Chemical Corp $68,196,805
86 W913TY05D9002 [194] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $65,896,024
87 W916QW05D0012 [195] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $65,716,041
88 FA890304D8671 [196] Defense Tyco International Ltd $64,436,896
89 FA890304D8670 [197] Defense CH2M HILL Companies Ltd $61,342,832
90 SOPRAQ98C0051 [198] State DynCorp International (Veritas Capital) $61,029,210
91 FA300206D0006 [199] Defense IAP Worldwide Services Inc (Cerberus Capital Management LP) $60,664,067
92 SP060004D1016 [200] Defense Turcas Petrol A S $59,265,078
93 W912BU05D0004 [201] Defense I and S Acquisition Corporation $59,160,571
94 W917PM05C0008 [202] Defense Rizzani de Eccher SpA $56,705,000
95 W91GFB05D0001 [203] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $55,446,589
96 W912ER04D0009 [204] Defense The Shaw Group Inc $55,331,004
97 W91B4N06D6001 [205] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $53,794,262
98 W917PM04D0005 [206] Defense Technologists Inc $53,683,896
99 W91B4L06D6001 [207] Defense Unidentified Foreign Entities $52,500,049
100 W91CRB05D0014 [208] Defense L-3 Communications Holdings Inc $51,111,434
 

Methodology

This list was created from data covering contract transactions executed in fiscal years 2004, 2005, and 2006, where the reported place of performance was Iraq or Afghanistan. The data—available from the General Service Administration's Federal Procurement Data System—is limited to the 100 vendors receiving the most obligated funds during this three-year period.

When the Center for Public Integrity published its first "Windfalls of War" investigation, in October 2003, up-to-date data on federal contracting activity was not available. As a result, Center staff gathered contract amounts from documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Since then, however, most such contracts for the post-war efforts list Iraq or Afghanistan as their "place of performance," making the contracting process more transparent and the search for data—available from the General Service Administration's Federal Procurement Data System—more methodical.

Contract amounts in the new data represent actual dollars obligated for products or services. Because of variability in how amounts were reported in the 2003 documents, amounts from the original report cannot be accurately combined or compared with dollar amounts in the 2007 update.

The updated data does not include all Iraq reconstruction contracts. For example, contract transactions handled by the Army Joint Contracting Command Iraq/Afghanistan is maintained in a separate system. Though summary information about those contracts is available from various sources, including the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction quarterly reports to Congress, detailed transaction information is not generally available to the public.

The Center has requested information about these contract transactions under the Freedom of Information Act. That information will be added here as it is made available.

To the best of our ability, we have attributed contract amounts in the new data to the parent companies of the various divisions and subsidiaries reported. Parent companies were identified using such sources as the GSA's Central Contractor Registry, online business information services, and company websites.

 

 

 


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