http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=716&e=5&u=/ap/20041024/ap_on_bi_ge/halliburton_contractsWILLIAM C. MANN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The Army has agreed to a Pentagon (news - web sites) investigation into claims by a top contracting official that a Halliburton subsidiary unfairly won no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars for work in Iraq (news - web sites) and the Balkans, according to Army documents obtained Sunday.
The complaint alleges that the award of contracts without competition to restore Iraq's oil industry and to supply and feed U.S. troops in the Balkans puts at risk "the integrity of the federal contracting program as it relates to a major defense contractor." It also asks protection from retaliation for the whistle-blower, Bunnantine Greenhouse, chief contracting officer of the Army Corps of Engineers.
In a letter to Greenhouse's lawyer, an Army attorney said that the matter is being referred to the Defense Department's inspector general for "review and action, as appropriate." It also said the Corps had been ordered to "suspend any adverse personnel action" against Greenhouse "until a sufficient record is available to address the specific matters" in her complaint.
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