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No-Bid Barack

No blood for lawyers!!

By: Mark Impomeni (Diary)  |  January 25th, 2010 at 09:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

To varying degrees, every presidential candidate makes promises during the course of the campaign that the realities of governing eventually cause the winner to break.  But never has the US seen a president like Barack Obama, whose broken campaign promises far outnumber his fulfilled ones.

The list is seemingly endless:  no lobbyists in the administration, closing Guantanamo Bay, a tax cut for 95% of Americans, a net reduction in federal spending, no new taxes for anyone making under $250,000, health care negotiations on C-SPAN, on and on.  All broken.  What’s more, each of these was broken in absolute terms, not as a result of any nuanced position or interpretation.

Today comes word of another campaign promise to be added to the ash heap of “history’s unmarked grave of discarded campaign promises,” to paraphrase a prior occupant of the Oval Office.  As a candidate, Barack Obama promised to, “put an end to the abuse of no-bid contracts once and for all.”  So it was only a matter of time before Obama was certain to be discovered awarding no-bid contracts of his own.

Despite President Obama’s long history of criticizing the Bush administration for “sweetheart deals” with favored contractors, the Obama administration this month awarded a $25 million federal contract for work in Afghanistan to a company owned by a Democratic campaign contributor without entertaining competitive bids, Fox News has learned.

The contract, awarded on Jan. 4 to Checchi & Company Consulting, Inc., a Washington-based firm owned by economist and Democratic donor Vincent V. Checchi, will pay the firm $24,673,427 to provide “rule of law stabilization services” in war-torn Afghanistan.

“Rule of law stabilization services” means lawyer training.  No joke.

At least when President Bush awarded no-bid contracts to Halliburton, they were for services that were actually needed.  Halliburton provided vital logistical support, including meals and accomdations, for the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Obama awards no bid sewwtheart deals to campaign donors so they can build the Afghani Trial Lawyers Association.

Is this what our mission in Afghanistan has come down to?  Staying around long enough for every last Democrat donor to squeeze the federal government for every last dime while our troops spill their blood fighting to keep the streets of Kabul safe long enough for the reinforcing wave of–lawyers?

That said, you’ve got to admire chutzpah like this:

“Asked about the contract, USAID Acting Press Director Harry Edwards at first suggested his office would be too “busy” to comment on it.  “I’ll tell it to the people in Haiti,” Edwards snapped when a Fox News reporter indicated the story would soon be made public. The USAID press office did not respond further.”

So much for openness and transparency in government.  Oh wait, that was a campaign promise, too.

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  • http://twitter.com/redhk redhk

    …it’s worth noting that KBR, Haliburton’s parent company, received 99.8% of its contracts through a competitive bidding process in FY2008 and 94.5% in FY2005. (fedspending.org)

  • http://www.veronicaestrada.com/ Veronica Estrada

    Checchi and Company have been doing for USAID this since the 1990s, so they’re a natural shoe-in for Obama’s plans to rebuild Afghanistan and make his place on the International Stage.

    http://www.checchiconsulting.com/index.php?option=com_projects&aoe_id=3&Itemid=8

    Meet the new economy: non-profit, NGO-driven international projects paid by Mr. Taxpayer.

    Next up: Haiti.

    Am I kidding? Reread his NPP remarks: “I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage,”

    He sure as hell ain’t.

  • Old_Crow

    Private contractors, even some NGO’s. Absolutely no reason for a no-bid determination. Time critical? I think not.
    The spin will be interesting – if the MSM cares.

  • 1SGinTN

    As a DoD contract specialist currently in Afghanistan, this item is of interest. USAID no doubt has quite a few procurement rules that differ from ours, but a contract action of that value most likely requires scrutiny and approvals from the Head of Contracting Activity (HCA) – in other words the top contracting official at USAID.

    I myself have been party to follow-on sole-source procurements – but only at values less than $1 Million, and very rarely. For example, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, Part 6.302-1(a)(1)(ii) is the authority for sole source acquisitions when there is only one responsible source and no other supply or service will satisfy time sensitive agency requirements. That being said, just because the contracting office allows a contract to expire before its replacement has been properly solicited and awarded, does not justify a sole-source follow-on contract.

    It looks like someone was getting quite liberal in the interpretation of the acquisition regulations. I don’t know how much scrutiny USAID gets from the auditors and Inspector General, but I’ll bet they will be looking in their direction soon.

    • nessa

      They all saw what the Administration did to the IGs this summer. the contract file will tell the story, with people already lined up to submit their proposals? Purely political, and of course yet another lie from the administration.

  • azindependentthinker

    when it comes to no bid contracts..

    To name a few of the war profiteers wired into the Bush/Cheney patronage system:

    In 2003, a few of Bush?s closest political allies created New Bridge Strategies to help corporations ?evaluate and take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the U.S.-led war.? New Bridge shares its Washington, DC offices with Barbour, Griffith & Rogers?the high-powered Republican lobbying firm founded by Haley Barbour, former head of the Republican National Committee and current governor of Mississippi. The firm?s CEO is Joe Allbaugh, the Bush/Cheney 2000 national campaign manager (and subsequent head of FEMA), and others involved include Ed Rogers (a top aide to Bush Sr.) and Lanny Griffith (who held several top advisory positions under Bush Sr., and is a 2004 Pioneer). Allbaugh recently registered as a lobbyist with Lockheed Martin. Looks like he finally figured out where the big money is.
    Top GOP strategist Charlie Black?s clients have included Fluor, which received a big public works contract in Iraq to reconstruct the country?s water and electricity. Black is chairman of BKSH, an affiliate of global public relations giant Burson-Marsteller, and a big backer of Ahmed Chalabi before the war. In June, the London-based Telegraph reported that an arrest warrant was issued by the Iraqi police for Francis Brooke, a BKSH consultant who attempted to block a recent raid on Chalabi?s Iraqi headquarters, after Chalabi was accused of passing American secrets to Iran.
    In the administration?s drive to create a beacon for democracy for the entire Middle East, another outstanding example of ?do as we say and not as we do? has been the way the contract to develop a ?competitive private sector? in Iraq has been handled. In this instance, the U.S. Agency for International Development allowed BearingPoint to help write the specifications for the $240 million contract, which in effect knocked its competitors out of the running, according to AID?s own inspector general. BearingPoint (formerly KPMG Consulting) and its employees have given more than $117,000 to the 2000 and 2004 Bush election campaigns. In 2003, an $80 million BearingPoint contract in Florida was withdrawn after critics complained about the company?s close ties to Gov. Jeb Bush.
    Former Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., runs a lobbying firm that has represented well-placed Iraqi families seeking to form business alliances with U.S. and foreign companies wishing to do business in Iraq. Livingston has also gained some notoriety in Washington for lobbying against provisions that would ban tax-dodging companies that have incorporated offshore from being eligible for federal contracts. Recently he was part of an effort that succeeded in convincing Congress to drop an attempt to block the Department of Homeland Security?s from giving Bermuda-based Accenture a $10 billion contract for, of all things, ?border control.? (U.S. taxpayers who don?t have any offshore accounts might not be happy to learn that Accenture also has a contract to help the IRS upgrade its website.)
    In 2003 Coalition Provisional Authority chief Paul Bremer issued a decree that Iraq?s 200 state-owned companies would be privatized and that foreign owners would be allowed to expatriate 100 percent of the profits. This looting of Iraq?s state-owned businesses?disguised as ?private-sector development? was stalled by worker protests and skepticism among wary investors concerned about the strength of the insurgency. Thomas Foley?a former Citigroup banker assigned by the CPA to oversee the privatization process, returned to Greenwich, Conn. in early 2004, where he is the state co-chair for the Bush/Cheney re-election campaign.
    Three weeks after construction and engineering firm Washington Group was awarded a contract to rebuild water projects in Iraq, 31 company employees gave $27,750 to Bush. By the end of April 2004, CEO Stephen Hanks had become a Bush campaign ?Pioneer? (by raising more than $100,000). Washington Group spokesman Jack Hermann was unconcerned about any appearance of impropriety. “You either participate in the system or you don’t,” Hermann told a Bloomberg reporter. “People can draw ulterior motives. We understand the baggage that comes with that.”
    The kingpin of corporate cronies, of course, is Vice President Cheney?s old firm, Halliburton.

    • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

      Yeah, if Rand Paul wins in Kentucky I’ll definitely be finding other races to lift a finger for.

  • http://www.voteforteri2010.com teridavisnewman

    Obama is a lying politician–and that’s reached cliche status because it is so prevalent. I don’t know what people have against the truth because it seems that no politician can get elected using it. I do tell the truth–we have tough times ahead, but we have to tighten our belts and get through it for the sake of our children. I use a quote:
    “If trouble comes, let it be during my time so that my children may have peace.” People who think that everything is all rosy don’t have a grip on reality and are still drinking Obama-flavored Kool-aid. There are very tough times coming and if we don’t pull together as Americans without the politics of hyphenated America, we will not survive as a nation.

  • sarge324

    did you expect anything different.he and his goonies lie and push the american people around like a bully.as americans we know the way to stop it is to vote them out.make 2010 a year of freedom.follow the constitution and our forefathers into the voting booths.

  • edintexas

    The Halliburton Iraq contract which raised the ire of the Democrats (and other assorted wild-eyed Lefties) was indeed not a competitive award. It was added to an existing contract awarded during the Clinton Administration (and that was allowed by the contracting regulations then in force). Further, Halliburton and/or it’s subsidiaries were the only entities then capable of rendering the services necessary. Neither of those elements are present in this contract award (there is no existing contract and the awardee is hardly the only firm able to provide the service contracted.

    As already pointed out, later contracts won by Halliburton and/or it’s subsidiaries were competitively awarded.

    • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

      about Halliburton but in any case it doesn’t matter. Double standards, you know?

      “They’re” richer, smarter, more powerful and whatever else “they” care to exclaim about themselves, so naturally “they” know better than anyone else, including you, what’s best for you.

  • jayburd

    It’s your money caught up in this big wheel of quid pro quo cash.