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<p>Last Wednesday, the Bush administration sent to Congress its proposed reauthorization of the federal highway bill, with the ungainly title of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003 (SAFETEA). Unfortunately, among the things it reauthorizes is the use of contracting and subcontracting preferences based on race, ethnicity and sex.</p>

In what's likely to be his final bargain score before leaving, President Bush's budget chief Mitch Daniels has convinced Office Depot--and, soon, Microsoft--to give Uncle Sam bulk-rate discounts on the millions of dollars of goods the government buys each year. "Over time," says Bush's coupon-cutter, the savings will add up to "very significant money." He's talking hundreds of millions of dollars. When Daniels--who's resigning to run for governor of Indiana--arrived in Washington, he was shocked to discover that each agency had separate deals with suppliers. That meant higher prices. "In many cases," says Daniels, "government agencies have been buying at...

<p>U.S. telecoms are angry the Pentagon hired MCI, formerly WorldCom, to build a small wireless phone network in Iraq after it perpetrated a mega accounting fraud.</p> <p>The Iraq contract has incensed WorldCom rivals and government watchdogs who say Washington has been too kind to the company since WorldCom revealed its $11 billion accounting fraud and plunged into bankruptcy last year.</p>

DeMint Announces $1.88 Million Defense Authorization for Michelin Upstate FacilityWASHINGTON - U.S Representative Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) today announced that the House Defense Authorization bill contains nearly $2 million for a Michelin facility in the upstate area to assemble tires for the Marine Corps' Land Attack Vehicles.The House is scheduled to pass the annual Defense Authorization bill later this week and the funding is expected to be formally appropriated later this year.

The Army received approval May 18 to move the cornerstone of its transformation — Future Combat Systems — into the nearly $15 billion system development and demonstration phase.Edward "Pete" Aldridge Jr., undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, signed the milestone B decision after last week's meeting of the Defense Acquisition Board, according to Army officials. Aldridge is scheduled to retire this week.FCS is a networked family of 18 systems that uses advanced communications and technologies to link soldiers with manned and unmanned air and ground platforms and sensors.Speaking May 19 at a Pentagon press briefing, Lt. Gen....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Watch your step! The Pentagon is developing a radar-based device that can identify people by the way they walk, for use in a new antiterrorist surveillance system. Operating on the theory that an individual's walk is as unique as a signature, the Pentagon has financed a research project at the Georgia Institute of Technology that has been 80 to 95 percent successful in identifying people. If the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, orders a prototype, the individual ``gait signatures'' of people could become part of the data to be linked together in a vast surveillance...

Engineered Support receives $26.1 million order from Saudi military Engineered Support Systems’ wholly-owned subsidiary Technical and Management Services Corporation (TAMSCO) has been awarded a $26.1 million task order by the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) under its new Rapid Response (R(2)) contract. The task order calls for TAMSCO to provide a variety of services at various locations throughout the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including the continued provision of support to the print plant operation at Riyadh; the continued operation of an In-Kingdom forward supply/repair and return point at Dhahran for various RSAF Foreign Military Sales (FMS) weapons systems; and,...

Kurds go it alone with international oil dealsLocal authorities ignore US administration and seek to lure major companies with generous contracts Andrew Buncombe in Washington Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq are offering hugely lucrative oil deals to European and American companies without consulting either the US administration in Baghdad or any other Iraqi groups. The move threatens to raise new problems over the future ownership of Iraq's vast oil reserves. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls the Sulaymaniyah region as part of the regional government of Kurdish Iraq, has in recent weeks started seeking investment from international companies...

Turkish Attack Helicopter Procurement On Hold Because of Stance in Iraq War (16 May) The loss of the abundant US aid, because of Turkish vacillations during the war against Iraq, is endangering Turkish military procurement programs. The first project so endangered is the attack helicopter program. It was Turkey’s desire to acquire 50 Bell Helicopter Textron AH-1Z King Cobra attack helicopters, as a first phase. Even if funds were to be found, the acquisition of a specialized version tailor made for Turkish requirements would have to be abandoned. In addition, in an effort to further cut the onerous financial burden...

Boeing Wins Army Modernization Contact 1 hour, 46 minutes ago Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo! WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co. has won a $14.92 billion contract to design and test the tanks and weapons of the future as part of the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s plan to modernize the U.S. Army, The Washington Post reported on Friday. Related Quotes DJIANASDAQ^SPC 8713.141551.38946.67 +65.32+16.480.00 delayed 20 mins - disclaimerQuote Data provided by Reuters   The Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board approved the contract, moving into the second phase of the Future Combat System late on Wednesday, the newspaper reported, citing a...

<p>WASHINGTON — One of those events that gets relatively small note in the news media but bears huge potential for affecting the way of the world for years to come took place at the White House Thursday.</p> <p>As the Washington press corps was abuzz with talk of the horse-trading on Capitol Hill over President Bush's tax cut plan, Bush hosted at the White House the foreign ministers of seven Eastern and Central European nations — all satellites of the Soviet Union little more than a decade ago.</p>

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Oil services giant Halliburton, already under fire over accusations that its White house ties helped win a major Iraqi oil contract, has admitted that a subsidiary paid a multi-million dollar bribe to a Nigerian tax official. AFP Photo Halliburton, once run by Vice President Richard Cheney, revealed the illicit payments, worth 2.4 million dollars, in a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites) (SEC). "The payments were made to obtain favorable tax treatment and clearly violated our code of business conduct and our internal control procedures," Halliburton said. Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown...

In boardrooms in France and Germany, businesses play catch up, trying to cash in on Iraqi reconstruction. HANOVER, GERMANY - The two shiny pipe welding tractors that fill most of the space in Eginhard Vietz's production hall here might be German industry's first casualties of the Iraq war. Shipment of the two massive machines, approved under the United Nations oil-for-food program in 2002, was called off four weeks before the first rockets began falling on Baghdad. Now, Mr. Vietz is stuck with almost $600,000 worth of expensive equipment that was the first part of a $5 million order placed by...

Halliburton's no-bid contract for Iraq work expands Office says Cheney has no role in company's $76.7 million deal05/08/2003 Associated Press WASHINGTON – The no-bid contract that Halliburton Co. received to put out Iraqi oil well fires has risen to $76.7 million, pushed higher after the government gave Vice President Dick Cheney's former company the added job of restarting Iraq's oil industry. The expanded role has accounted for $24 million of the contract total so far. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., disclosed Tuesday that Halliburton's KBR subsidiary would have more work than initially indicated in the March announcement of a contract to...

Having been wrong on so much of the Iraqi War story, many in the media remain determined to find reason to be critical of the Bush administration for its prosecution of the war, and its efforts to deal with the aftermath. Both ABC’s Nightline and CBS’s Sixty Minutes recently ran stories that strongly suggested that the awarding of contracts to companies wanting to be involved in the cleanup and rebuilding of Iraq has been based primarily on their ties to the administration. In their effort to make the story seem like some big conspiracy at work, both have greatly exaggerated...

It's payback time at the White House, and countries around the world are reaping the benefits or paying the price for their stand on the war with Iraq. The door to the Oval Office is wide open for foreign leaders who backed President Bush, but war critics would be lucky to find a spot with Barney, the presidential dog. Foreign leaders who crossed Bush can forget about presidential visits or quick action on free trade agreements. The retribution fits Bush's longstanding pattern of rewarding friends and punishing enemies, but critics say it is adding to the already substantial anti-American sentiment...

It's payback time at the White House. Countries around the world are reaping the benefits or paying the price for their stand on the war with Iraq. The door to the Oval Office is wide open for foreign leaders who backed President Bush. But war critics will be lucky to find a spot with Barney, the presidential dog. Foreign leaders who crossed Bush can forget about presidential visits or quick action on free-trade agreements. The retribution fits Bush's long-standing pattern of rewarding friends and punishing enemies. Critics say it is adding to the substantial anti-American sentiment abroad. "It's petty, and...

AMMAN, Jordan -- The U.S. Embassy in Jordan has launched a Web site to let local companies know how to become involved in Iraq's reconstruction, an embassy statement announced Tuesday. On the Web: http://www.usembassy-amman.org.jo http://www.usembassy-amman.org.jo/reconstruction_iraq.htm

By James Politi in Washington Published: May 6 2003 5:00 | Last Updated: May 6 2003 5:00 The US Chamber of Commerce has written to President George W. Bush urging him not to compromise his administration's commitment to "open government procurement" when awarding contracts in post-war Iraq. Thomas Donohue, the chamber's president and chief executive, said in the letter dated April 22: "Open competition government procurement rules apply to the governments of those countries that comprised the 'coalition of the willing' as well as those who did not join that coalition." He added: "We respectfully request that you continue to...

LONDON: Defence contractor Lockheed Martin Corp is the frontrunner to win a one billion pound ($1.61 billion) contract for a UK ground-based air defence system, the Observer said on Sunday. The newspaper said that industry insiders indicated Lockheed was the favourite to win the contract from Britain's Ministry of Defence. Other contenders include Frances' Thales, European aerospace firm EADS and MDBA, a joint venture between Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Finmeccanica, according to the Observer. The four competitors are expected to be cut to two over the coming two weeks, with MBDA the most likely to join Lockheed in the...