Posted on 02/24/2006 4:51:19 PM PST by mdittmar
Base Camp Adder (Ali Base) Iraq - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region South District is assisting Iraq provinces to use a new democratic process to obtain Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Funded projects.
Last Spring, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that each of Iraq’s 18 provinces would receive up to $10 million to spend on projects, if their provincial councils could work together to select and prioritize a list of projects for construction. The business process established for selecting projects and getting them approved for funding brought together Iraqi leaders of the Provincial Reconstruction Development Council (PRDC), the US State Department, and Iraqi Reconstruction Management Organization.
The first step involved the PRDC developing project lists that were coordinated with the Provincial Reconstruction Team of experts and submitted for approval to the National Embassy Team in Baghdad.
Eight of the nine councils in the southern provinces have put their heads together with the Provincial Reconstruction Team, of which the Corps of Engineers acts as a consultant. This new democratic process involves the Corps project managers attending bi-monthly provincial Sector Coordination Team meetings to identify projects by working with each of the nine PRDC teams, reconstruction engineers and provincial director generals for electricity, water, transportation, security. justice, health, education and buildings.
Last but certainly not least, the district’s three area engineers and 11 resident engineers work side-by-side with their Iraqi counterparts, director generals and technical representatives from each province, to determine scope, cost and timeline for each provincial proposed project.
“This is what I call true capacity development. The previous regime expected bribery or relatives to get all construction contracts,” said Colonel Larry McCallister, commander of the Gulf Region South District. “This is providing Iraqi leaders with an understanding of the equitable US construction contracting process, from pre-award, technical review board, contract proposal evaluation criteria, quality assessment inspections, final inspections and post contractor evaluations.”
McCallister and his team successfully negotiated with each PRDC and director general to select projects, evaluate contract proposals and assist with post-award construction quality assurance. These negotiations are designed to maximize Iraqi involvement in the reconstruction process, while meeting US contracting laws and regulations.
The first PRDCs in Iraq to submit their lists of prioritized projects for approval of the National Embassy Team were Wasit, Diwaniyah and Babil. The lists from these provinces is a combination of 31 road, water, and electrical projects. Each province agreed upon how to spend the $10 million within their province before the lists went forward to Baghdad for approval. These three provinces made major headway and the majority of their projects are already awarded or will soon be awarded.
The four Southern Provinces of Basrah, Maysan, Muthana and Thi Qasr agreed upon their prioritized lists of 37 projects, submitted them to the National Embassy Team in November and received approval in December. GRS is currently working with each PRDC and director general to develop detailed scope, cost, location and schedule in order to advertise the projects in March.
Najaf Province submitted their PRDC approved project list to Baghdad in January and received partial approval for some of their requested projects. The province of Karbala is the last province in GRS area that is still developing their PRDC list and GRS continues to work with them to finalize their selections.
The Provincial Reconstruction Development Council working together and agreeing upon the most beneficial projects for their region is an encouraging sign of democracy in action. Although this is the first democratic process for obtaining funding for provincial projects, the goal is to establish budgeting, contracting, quality inspection and safety procedures that will endure for the benefit of the provincial governments and the people they serve.
These are the important stories the old media refuses to tell.
A nuts and bolts working together approach. It is nice to be able to read about it here anyway.
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