There's a pattern developing in regard to all things military that have anything to do with Halliburton, KBR, of their spin off companies. Once the "privatization" is accomplished there follows a string of complaints about the quality of the services provided, and unfortunately the services at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center are no different. Last year there were grumblings about the services provided by IAP Worldwide Services, Inc. This year we have the Washington Post articles documenting the problems associated with yet another contract awarded to yet another arm of the Halliburton cartel. Some details below.
Almost lost in the discussions of the squalid and red-tape bound situations at the Walter Reed Army Hospital is this item from the Washington Post "...The committee also released an internal Army memorandum reportedly written in September in which the Walter Reed garrison commander, Col. Peter Garibaldi, warned Weightman that "patient care services are at risk of mission failure" because of staff shortages brought on by the privatization of the hospital's support workforce." [WaPo]
And, when one starts turning over rocks what should come into view but an A-76 military contract with IAP Worldwide Service, [IAP]which took a $120 million contract to run portions of the WRAH services for facilities management. Immediately after the awarding of the contract the facilities management staff was reduced to 50 privately employed workers. The CEO of IAP Worldwide is Al Neffgen, who previously served as COO of Government and Infrastructure for the Americas Region of Kellogg Brown and Root. The President of IAP Worldwide is Dave Swindle, formerly the vice president of Business Acquisition and National Security Programs at the Halliburton subsidiary KBR. Charles F. Dominy, IAP vice president in charge of government affairs, formerly served as as the manager of Halliburton's Government Affairs Office in Washington, D.C. [IAP]
Last March employees at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center lost their final administrative appeal of a decision to outsource base operations work as the result of a public-private job competition. The Army Dispute Resolution Administrative Appeals Board denied their challenge of the Army's decision to outsource the work that had been done by 350 Walter Reed employees. [GovExec]
Here we go again. The Department of Defense signs a contract with a spin off firm from Halliburton to privatize services for Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The company lays off employees, and provides inferior service. Now, where have we heard this before?
Cross posted at Desert Beacon