U.S. taps DynCorp, Fluor over KBR for Afghan work (5 year contracts $7.5 billion each)

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, July 8 (Reuters) - DynCorp International Inc <DCP.N> and Fluor Corp <FLR.N> have been picked over KBR Inc <KBR.N> for five-year contracts worth up to $7.5 billion each to support U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the U.S. Army said on Wednesday.

The deals involve one base year plus four option years to provide services such as laundry, dining and recreation, said Dan Carlson, a spokesman for the Army Sustainment Command in Rock Island, Illinois.

The base year, starting on Wednesday, is worth up to $1.5 billion, the Army said in a statement. DynCorp was awarded work in southern Afghanistan, while Fluor's work is in the north, Carlson said.

Cindy Green, director of DynCorp investor relations, said in an email that DynCorp's initial award for the first year of the contract was for $640 million to $650 million.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N08397324.htm

[pattmarty]

1. Didn't I once hear someone say "new boss same as the old boss"?

[saigon68]

11. DIRTY PIGS swilling at the Public Trough

[Andy823]

2. Haliburton and KBR

Should both be banned from ever getting another government contract period! They should also be investigated if need be taken to trail! They are crooks that ripped off the taxpayers of this country, helped by Bush, and who owe this country billions in repayments for bad work, and fraud!

[jaxx]

3. What? I thought we were told only Halliburton et al could do the job!

This is good. KBR has killed troops with it's shoddy work and screwed us for untold amounts in the process.

[PSzymeczek]

4. DynCorp is just as bad.

When I worked in contracts for the Army, I had several adverse experiences trying to work with them.

[flyarm]

9. yes it is!!!!!!!!!!!! see my post below

[Flaneur]

5. Why doesn't the military do this itself? It used to.

Why must we pay mercenary corporations to do things the military could do more cheaply?

Why?

[Flaneur]

6. I have a friend who is an airplane mechanic in Iraq.

He works for one of the mercenary companies and gets paid $140,000 a year. How much do military airplane mechanics make?

[jmowreader]

10. Endstrength considerations

This seems to be a monthly question, and as usual I have a monthly answer.

Basically, the military can only have so many people in it.

It's more detailed than that, so let's get into it. There are three basic kinds of soldiers:

1. Combat Arms troops are the ones who actually carry the fight to the enemy. These guys (most of them are men) include the Infantry, Field Artillery, Air Defense Artillery, Cavalry, Aviation, and Combat Engineers.
2. Combat Support troops perform functions such as Signal, Military Intelligence, Chemical and Military Police.
3. Combat Service Support troops do supply, maintenance and administration.

Let's throw out a number: 600,000. We will say the Army's Fiscal Year Endstrength, the number of troops who can be in the army on September 30, is 600,000. This isn't absolute; if September 15 rolls around and there are 601,250 troops in the army, no one is going to call up 1250 units and say, "quick! Find the worst fuckup you have and chapter him out right now!" However, if the army wants 60,000 of those 600,000 troops to be infantry and right now there are 40,000 infantrymen, they can't go to Congress and ask for their endstrength to be bumped up by 20,000. Or more exactly, they could but it wouldn't ever happen. They've got to take 20,000 slots, convert them to infantry, find 20,000 men who can't get promoted, and offer them a chance to retrain as grunts. The only place they can legitimately pull 20,000 guys out of is the combat service support force--because it's the only place they can legally replace soldiers with civilians. Say you were a tactical microwave systems operator. You're a soldier. If they were to turn you into an infantryman and put a civilian in your microwave van, if the thing got overrun that civilian would legally be either a mercenary (who you're allowed to execute) or a spy (who you're legally REQUIRED to execute). But a guy driving a forklift at a base camp 90 miles from the forward edge of the battle area can be a civilian, no problem at all.

[boppers]

12. So, basically, it's their way of cheating overall force reduction?

Rather than massively reducing forces, and bases, around the world, they're maintaining force strength, by outsourcing non-combat jobs?

I'm pretty sure the intent of post-cold-war force reduction wasn't "keep lots of soldiers, designate them as combat, and add a bunch of third-party service support costs".

[flyarm]

7. LOVELY..DYNCORP HAS MANY CHILD SEX SCANDALS..JUST LOVELY

they are possibly the only group worse than Blackwater!

look them up , please..and see who the new boss is!

we just keep going from worse to worse ..if that was POSSIBLE!

[flyarm]

8. info on dyncorp and the child prostitution!

Child prostitution we can believe in: DynCorp Up On Army Award For Afghanistan Work Worth Up to $7.5B 08 Jul 2009 Shares of DynCorp International Inc. rose Wednesday as the service provider to government agencies and Fluor Corp. were selected over rival KBR Inc. for U.S. contracts worth up to $7.5 billion each to support base-camp operations in Afghanistan. DynCorp and Fluor were notified Tuesday that each won one-year contracts worth as much as $1.5 billion with four one-year options for the same annual amount, Dan Carlson, spokesman for the U.S. Army Sustainment Command, told Dow Jones Newswires.

wow now that is change and hope ......not!