Our enemies in Iraq are good at filling hospitals, but they do not build any.
- President George W. Bush, 5/24/04
Neither, apparently, do we.
In a stunning A1 story of corruption and incompetence the Washington Post's Ellen Knickmeyer reports:
BAGHDAD -- A reconstruction contract for the building of 142 primary health centers across Iraq is running out of money, after two years and roughly $200 million, with no more than 20 clinics now expected to be completed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.
Sounds bad? Knickmeyer is being kind. More on the flip...
The
Washington Post piece is well reported and filled with lots of detail on how the contracts were awarded to
Parsons on a 'cost plus' and 'design-build' basis. Which in contracting shorthand for the US pays the bills + Parsons profits until the entire project is completed. The headline shows only 20 of 142 clinics will be completed or only 14% completed. But in reality it's far, far worse.
Below is a rough timeline of the contracts and expectations based on the excellent Knickmeyer report:
Early Occupation 2003 (est.) - "Early in the occupation, U.S. officials mapped out the construction of 300 primary-care clinics said [Naeema al-]Gasseer, the WHO official."
So the initial plan calls for 300, not 200 clinics.
April 2004 - "the project was awarded to Parsons Inc. of Pasadena, Calif., a leading construction firm in domestic and international markets."
Why did it take 11 months to start rebuilding health infrastructure? Whatever.
Late 2004 - "Faced with a growing insurgency, U.S. authorities in 2004 took funding away from many projects to put it into building up Iraqi security forces."
The insurgency takes off in 2004. The security situation deteriorates and begins to eat funds while projects are paralyzed.
Late 2005 - "...plans were scaled back to build 142 primary clinics by December of that year, an extended deadline."
Scaled back from what? The WHO reports 300 clinics were the initial plan, now the new plan is 142 clinics.
December 2005 - "only four [clinics] had been completed, reconstruction officials said."
Four clinics completed in 20 months by Parsons. Cost? $200 million dollars.
January 2006 - "...Two more were finished weeks later."
4+2=6. Impressive.
Early 2006 - "With the money almost all gone, the Corps of Engineers and Parsons reached what both sides described as a negotiated settlement under which Parsons would TRY to finish 14 more clinics by early April and then leave the project."
TRY TO FINISH? Why would anyone have ANY faith that could finish 14 clinics in 3 months in 2006 when it took them 20 months to complete 6 clinics in a far more secure environment? I simply don't believe the Army Corps of Engineers when they say Parsons Inc. will complete the 14 additional clinics. Are they magically more competent now that they have lost the contract? 233% more magically competent? No way.
And what will happen to Parsons, who wasted hundreds of millions of tax dollars with their incompetence while denying health services to Iraq?
April 2006 - The [termination of Parsons service] agreement stipulated that the contract was terminated by consensus, not for cause, the Corps and Parsons said.
Parsons, you're doing a heck of a job.
To recap the initial US/WHO health conference planned on building 300 health clinics. To date 6 clinics are confirmed completed. 6/300 is 2 percent success.
Q: Why doesn't the media show the good news like when a health clinic is opened?
A: They do. One story every 4 months covers all of the new clinics.