Halliburton Resolves Iraq Billing Dispute (Reuters)

(Oh the HORROR of getting paid in the same way every other company in the world does)

Halliburton Resolves Iraq Billing Dispute

Tue Apr 5, 2005 06:14 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Halliburton Co. (HAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Tuesday said it struck a deal with the U.S. Army over food service provided to U.S. troops in Iraq, resolving a billing dispute that had hung over the oilfield services company for more than a year. The company also said it finalized 27 outstanding task orders valued at more than $10.5 billion related to services its KBR unit provided the U.S. military during the conflict in Iraq.

Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. Army Field Support Command will pay KBR $1.176 billion and retain $55.1 million of about $200 million in payments that had been withheld while those issues were being resolved. KBR said it would negotiate payment adjustments with its subcontractors as a result.

Portions of the 14 affected task orders will also be paid on the basis of a firm fixed price rather than a "cost plus award" fee. The company said it does not expect the settlement to hurt its financial results.

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

I'm sure were it any other company bilking the US government out of hundreds of millions of dollars, someone would have been filmed doing the "perp walk" by now...CEO's, board members...somebody. That company would also be forever barred from getting any more contracts.

Not so here...gee I wonder why?

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=8095659

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Halliburton Co. (HAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has struck a deal with the U.S. Army, resolving a 14-month-long billing dispute over meals provided to U.S. troops in Iraq, the oilfield services company said on Tuesday.

The company, formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, also said it finalized 27 outstanding work orders valued at more than $10.5 billion related to services its KBR unit provided the U.S. military during the war in Iraq.

The settlement ends a billing row over dining facilities services, but KBR has yet to resolve other disputed issues including deliveries of fuel and laundry services.

<snip>

Under the terms of the deal, the U.S. Army Field Support Command will pay KBR $1.18 billion for costs billed for dining facilities' services in Kuwait and Iraq during the initial months of the war.

...more...

WASHINGTON The U-S Army said today it will pay Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, one-point-one-eight (b) billion dollars for dining services in Iraq and Kuwait. But the Army said it will retain a portion of payments suspended during a long-running billing dispute.
Army Field Support Command said it had reached a negotiated agreement with K-B-R and the Army to resolve a payment dispute that has been in contention since December 2003. The deal covers billing questions surrounding dining services for the initial months of the U-S Operation Iraqi Freedom invasion of Iraq.

Under the arrangement, the Army will keep 55 (m) million dollars out of about 200 (m) million dollars in payments to K-B-R that had been suspended while billing questions were resolved.

Halliburton said the agreement was good news for the company and its suppliers. It said the issue stemmed from "interpretative differences" in billing practices.

http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=3172159

Halliburton interpreted their contract as being able to bill any amount for doing jack shit, and the Army thought they might have to feed one or two guys to get paid.

Good God!! $1.18 billion to feed 150,000 troops? This is what was reported as the "only" company in the world that could do this job?

I think you could hire 400 lunch ladies and 1 nutritionist for about $ 8 million max for the whole deal.

Talk about your $4000 toilet seats!!

other civilian contractors. There are as many mercs there as there are soldiers, plus there are twice as many civilian contractors over there.

But $1.18 billion is a lot. Wonder what period it covers, a month or two probably going by previous Halliburton's practices.

It's around $10 a meal for 3 meals a day 7 days a week, for 150,000 people.

Wouldn't be too bad if they actually provided all those meals, which they probably didn't.

Frankly, that is not too bad. Though, the total figure does sound like a lot of money.

While visiting tourist traps.... I didn't know Iraq was such a fun spot.

SP4's were manning the chow hall lines. Wasn't the purpose of privatizing those services to save money? Wasn't former Defense Secretary Chaney asked to find how to realize post Cold War military savings prior to recommending his future company for the bulk of those out-sourced jobs, once performed by the military? What sort of quid pro quo existed/exists there?

Also, in the old days, a commander could order a SP4 to do a job, say drive a vehicle in a convoy from point A to point B with a reasonable expectation that he would obey. An employee of a private company could refuse. I know that if I were a Halliburton truck driver, I'd have a severe stomachache every time I got assigned to drive on that deadly road to which everyone refers.

Why are we paying this much to a company that does business where every other company in prohibited, like Iran? Why are we paying this much to a company that maintains off-shore management locations for the purpose of tax evasion?

I know, I know! These questions might as well be rhetorical as there will never be an official answer from this administration.

Howzabout we establish a site, like buyblue.com, where we list those companies which actually pay taxes in the US and attempt to support them?

potatoes.

Welcome to DU harlinchi :hi:

Like most of America, I enjoyed the triumph of your Sox LAST YEAR! Of course my Phillies are 1 - 0 this year. Hope springs eternal, especially right after spring training!

:shrug:
rocknation

things in or close to an area of combat operations, or so I've been told. Thankfully, and I say this unabashedly, I have never seen the elephant. When I was in the reserves, it was the RESERVES! Our big thing was Re-forger, training to resupply/re-man old Europe after an anticipated Soviet armored invasion through the Fulda (Fuida?) gap. If that came, everyone would serve, cause the feces would have hit those rotary blades!

Even more thankfully, it never came.

Afterward, he was able to support himself until his art became profitable. He'll still occasionally make an ice sculpture for an art opening; I believe he picked up that skill in his post-service chef days.

One positive thing about military service in the old days was the possibility of learning a useful skill. No longer true.