US terminates part of major Iraq hospital-building contract

[Barrett808]

US terminates part of major Iraq hospital-building contract
by Paul Schemm

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The US Army Corps of Engineers said it had partially terminated its contract with the second largest reconstruction contractor in Iraq due to lack of progress on its mission to rebuild hospitals.

Parsons Global Services' two-billion-dollar contract, awarded in 2004 for medical, oil and security reconstruction projects, was plagued with problems according to an April government audit.

The termination was "due to insufficient progress and associated escalating costs which are expected to exceed available funding for the renovation of eight remaining hospital projects across Iraq," a corps statement said.

The termination is described as "partial" because the US-based contractor still has some minor work on the 12 hospitals it did complete, said Erich Lainger, spokesperson for the US Project and Contracting Office.

"The money is still there to finish the eight hospitals we need finished," he told AFP. "The Iraqis are going to get their other eight hospitals."

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060512/pl_afp/iraqusreconstruction

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Bet there is no thought of terminating the biggest Embassy in the world,

no matter what the construction cost overruns may be.

[AndyTiedye]

5. Maybe They Hired a Real Contractor to Build the Embassy

The Ambassador and his entourage have to live there, and it will have to withstand
whatever all the people we have pissed off over there can throw at it.

[drdtroit]

2. Why can't we hire Iraqi's to build their own hospitals ???

:patriot:

[acmavm]

3. So does Parsons have to pay any kind of damages for

breach of contract? Because that's what it is. Unless they couldn't complete their end of the bargain due to 'the insurgency'. Of course, Halliburton can feed the troops rotten food and give them wastewater to drink and still get paid.

[fshrink]

4. Unable to take care of our own cities,

how could we be able to take care of the foreign cities we destroy? Some assholes insiders are probably laughing all the way to their bank as well.

[arcane1]

6. makes me wonder how all these hospitals got wrecked in the first place

I mean, everyone knows that our bombs and missiles can zero-in on the evil in someone's heart, and the shrapnel ONLY hits those who have sufficient evil in them :eyes:

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Excellent point!

[arcane1]

9. blow up expensive medical equipment, with expensive bombs

and then replace both. Everyone's happy, as long as they have a financial stake in med equipment and/or bombs

[Dr Fate]

8. The media never reports the good stuff- like all the hospitals we build

Damn Liberal media!!!!