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<p>WASHINGTON -- They are among America's larger companies: Verizon Communications, AT&T Wireless, Barnes & Noble booksellers and Dole Food. But in the government's contractor database, they are listed as small businesses.</p> <p>The mistaken designations, contained in records obtained by the Associated Press, mean the government has overstated the contract dollars that are going to small business at a time when the Bush administration has been pressing to give smaller firms as much federal work as possible.</p>

On March 24, Halliburton, the giant energy-services company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, announced that a subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, had signed a contract with the Army Corps of Engineers to put out oil fires in Iraq, as well as to evaluate and repair the Iraqi oil infrastructure. The announcement set off an angry reaction in some circles on Capitol Hill. On March 26, California Democratic representative Henry Waxman wrote a letter to the Corps demanding to know why the contract was signed "without any competition or even notice to Congress." On April 8, Waxman, joined by...

Sweeping "Buy-America" provisions in proposed U.S. defence-spending legislation could cost Canadian defence and aerospace companies billions of dollars in lost contracts and throw thousands of their employees out of work, Canadian and U.S. industry officials warn. A provision also would end Canada's special status as a member of the U.S. National Technology and Industrial Base under which it is not treated as a foreign country for defence procurement purposes. Norbert Cyr, spokesman for the Canadian Defence Industries Association, said the sector has been on high alert over the effort to "put a line through the Canadian exemption" and now is...

Aerospace Suppliers Object to 'Buy American' Provision in Visit to Hill 7/8/03 11:24:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Janet Neale of the Aerospace Industries Association of America, 703-358-1076 or neale@aia-aerospace.org WASHINGTON, July 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- American aerospace suppliers will tell members of Congress tomorrow that U.S. manufacturing jobs would be lost, not gained, as a net result of the so-called "Buy American" amendments in the FY04 Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 1588) as passed by the House of Representatives last month. The Senate declined to include any parallel provisions in its version of the bill. About 40 members...

State awards visa processing contract The State Department has awarded SI International a blanket purchase agreement to support information technology professional services. Under the contract, announced July 1, SI International will design, develop and perform systems integration and maintain the computer-based systems supporting the immigrant visa-processing and data exchange between the State Department and other agencies. SI International will provide technical and analytical support, software maintenance, training and system development for the suite of automated visa systems for the Bureau of Consular Affairs. The value of the five-year agreement is estimated at more than $50 million, according to SI International....

Poland Acknowledges Oil Ambition in Iraq 07/05/2003 13:20 Too many companies wish to assist in Iraq's restoration Washington and London still hesitate to acknowledge the fact that the war in Iraq was launched because of oil. However, their true ally - Poland - does not see anything blameworthy about it. Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz has recently stated that Poland has never concealed its aspiration to gain a direct access to oil deposits. Saddam is a tyrant and a monster, of course, but oil is much more important. A group of Polish companies has recently signed an agreement to participate...

Cyprus took the opportunity yesterday to edge forward in the pecking order for construction contracts in Iraq during the visit here of America's chief aid administrator for rebuilding the war-torn country. Andrew Natsios, the administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), is on a two-day visit to Cyprus to witness first-hand UN-run bicommunal projects funded by American money. But after a meeting with acting-President Demetris Christofias, Natsios conceded that Cypriot companies vying for contracts in Iraq was on the agenda. San Francisco-based Bechtel has been given the largest contract to restore Iraq's infrastructure but Natsios said 85% of...

Members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees have gone into conference to hash out some major differences in the 2004 Defense Authorization bills passed by each of the two congressional chambers. Among the contested issues is a major initiative launched by the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) to revive and maintain a robust industrial base in support of continued American military superiority. Unfortunately, some senators favor outsourcing defense projects to foreign corporations.

President Vladimir Putin has warned Britain and the United States not to "squeeze out" Russian firms from the post-war reconstruction of Iraq. On the eve of the first state visit by a Russian leader to Britain for more than 150 years, Mr Putin said he expected contracts signed by Russian firms with the former regime of Saddam Hussein to exploit Iraqi oil reserves to be honoured. "Our position is based on the primacy of the law," he told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost. "We agree that the future Iraqi government must make its own decisions on some of those projects but...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.Members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees have gone into conference to hash out some major differences in the 2004 Defense Authorization bills passed by each of the two congressional chambers. Among the contested issues is a major initiative launched by the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) to revive and maintain a robust industrial base in support of continued American military superiority. Unfortunately, some Senators favor outsourcing defense projects to foreign corporations. People who get their news about the state of U.S. national security from television reports showing fighters launching...

The huge effort to restore Iraq's oil industry begins every day two hours south of the Iraq-Kuwait border, at the lavish Crowne Plaza Hotel in Kuwait City. No sooner does the lobby restaurant open at 5 a.m. than a line of middle-aged men in jumpsuits, golf shirts and identical tan caps forms at the breakfast buffet, eschewing the mezzeh and labneh for French toast, home fries and beef bacon. Outside, a couple of dozen silver S.U.V.'s are lined up, and after a quick breakfast the men are off in a swift northbound convoy, each car marked with the sideways V...

<p>In Washington, the defense industry this week began publicly opposing measures passed by House Republicans recently that would require the Pentagon to monitor and justify the shift of defense work to foreign suppliers. The House's proposed 2004 defense budget bill, parts of which were co-authored by Salem Democrat John Tierney, also calls on military officials to build up the US defense-industrial base and would bar the purchase of certain foreign goods.</p>

<p>Mac McClelland did some quick math as he steered his Lincoln Navigator through chaotic Dubai traffic.</p> <p>He'd just learned of a contract to supply food to 12,500 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. If he won it, he'd be a subcontractor to a subcontractor on a deal that originally went to Kellogg, Brown & Root, which provides support services to the military overseas.</p>

MACON, Ga. -- General Electric Co. is cutting 415 jobs and closing its two consumer finance facilities in Georgia after it lost The Home Depot's business. The consumer finance processing center in Macon will begin laying off 110 employees Aug. 3, The Macon Telegraph reported in Friday editions. The remaining 305 layoffs will come from Atlanta. The closings follow The Home Depot's May 2002 decision to not renew its contract with GE for its consumer credit services, said GE spokesman Peter Tosches.

Bechtel, most contracts for Iraqis US engineering giant Bechtel charged with the initial contract to rebuild Iraq says it will give most subcontracts to Iraqi firms and not the international companies desparate for a share, reported Reuters. Foreign firms will be tapped only for equipment not available in Iraq or top-end design and engineering services, said officials. Bechtel has been overwhelmed by interest in Iraqi contracts.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Iraq war proved how essential weather, communications and targeting satellites are to the U.S. military, and that is good news for a U.S. space industry still reeling from a devastating slump in the commercial market, analysts and defense officials said. Over the next decade, top satellite makers like Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. will vie for multibillion dollar orders as the U.S. military upgrades or replaces nearly all its satellites. Satellite launchers could also see a lift, given strong military demand and a modest recovery in commercial demand expected in two to...

<p>Rule changes will streamline process for companies to compete for 850,000 positions.</p> <p>WASHINGTON – About 850,000 government jobs will be opened to private companies under new rules Thursday that encourage competition to replace federal workers who perform tasks such as giving weather reports to private pilots, fixing computers and taking money and tickets at national parks.</p>

The question of whether the United States may be overly dependent on foreign suppliers for critical military equipment has been debated for decades. The Army, particularly, has been concerned about the reliance on non-U.S. suppliers for critical items used in the manufacturing of ammunition. The issue now is taking added importance in the aftermath of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which some of our NATO allies—whose industries are suppliers to the U.S. military—did not support. What worries Army leaders is the hypothetical situation in which a country that does not agree with U.S. policies may take retaliatory action by refusing...

Iraq's oil minister announced yesterday that three oil production contracts signed by the previous regime with Russian and Chinese companies would be either terminated or frozen, according to Reuters news agency. The move seems likely to plunge Iraq into complex international litigation, just days after the United Nations voted to end sanctions against Iraq. Thamir Ghadhban, US- appointed oil minister, said a contract with the Russian oil giant Lukoil had been terminated, while another contract with a Chinese company to develop al-Ahdab field had been frozen by "mutual agreement". The fate of the third contract was unclear. French, Russian, and...