An audit of contracts signed in Iraq and paid for with Iraqi oil money has found evidence of corruption and mismanagement by the US government, according to Al Jazeera. The KPMG audit of 15 non-competitive contracts awarded by US agencies was unable to account for $22.5m in funds, according to the UN-sponsored International Advisory and Monitoring Board. ameinfo.com reported
I wonder how did a small discrepancy of $22.5m made a news while all the actual awarded amount of the contracts neither did make news nor did become counted as insider trading. 'Non-competitive contracts' never heard of that category, and even the competing contracts most went to us companies. Most of the companies, I know, from Dubai left Iraq long back due to the state of affairs. But it didn't change for American companies ofcourse they get military cover and safe access to all grounds.
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1 comment:
non competitive contract would be the outcome of a non -transparent tendering process.. it is a common symptom of dysfunctional government and would raise significant questions in relation to the levels of influence that the foreign forces exercised in their entry to iraq..
the outcome of an non competitive contract is three-fold..
(a) it generates an overpriced result and a misappropriation of tax/pubic money
(b) an excellent attribute of public sector spending is that it should open a fair and open market to encourage commercial excellence.. by publishing the evaluation criteria of submissions - local business can learn (i) how to pitch for deals (ii) what standards it needs to achieve (iii) how to factor in its course of conduct an equitable and internationally aligned approach.. making the spend opaque encourages the exact opposite in the private sector.. it lowers standards.. makes networking more important than genuine product quality and teaches no one about serious methods of sale..
(b) it contributes to a public-sector culture of non-accountability and undermines the very essence of the democratic system.. as the cover/pad-thy-backside approach takes over..
i must say that i recall the bonanza that was reported through the media of all the reconstruction contracts that would come from iraq.. i recall no talk of due process for public sector procurement and no talk of public interest in administering those funds..
instinct tells me that kpmg will sadly benefit from many more billable hours out of the mess in iraq..
on that note - i think kpmg should undertake that work on a pro bono basis.. for goodness' sake.. they'll make much more than that out of iraq if the place ever sorts itself out and develops a serious economy anyway..
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