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Some of Army's Civilian Contractors Are No-Shows in Iraq BY DAVID WOOD Newhouse News Service July 31, 2003WASHINGTON -- U.S. troops in Iraq suffered through months of unnecessarily poor living conditions because some civilian contractors hired by the Army for logistics support failed to show up, Army officers said.Months after American combat troops settled into occupation duty, they were camped out in primitive, dust-blown shelters without windows or air conditioning. The Army has invested heavily in modular barracks, showers, bathroom facilities and field kitchens, but troops in Iraq were using ramshackle plywood latrines and living without fresh food or regular...

US bans WorldCom from new govt contracts Thursday July 31, 7:58 pm ET By Jeremy Pelofsky and Jessica Hall WASHINGTON/PHILADELPHIA, July 31 (Reuters) - WorldCom Inc. suffered another blow on Thursday after a U.S. agency said the bankrupt telephone company could no longer compete for new U.S. government contracts after finding it lacked proper internal controls and business ethics. The General Services Administration said it would review whether the temporary ban on WorldCom, which is embroiled in an $11 billion accounting scandal, should be extended for up to three years. Meanwhile, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of...

California Congressman Duncan Hunter is an old and dear friend and someone who knows more about defense policy in this country than anyone else I know. That's why it amazes me that someone so knowledgeable can fall prey to the fallacies of protectionism, particularly when it involves the defense of our nation. When he once took a baseball bat to a Japanese-made TV set on the Capitol steps, it was good political theater, but it illustrates how deeply ingrained his protectionist streak runs. But now, Hunter, who is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has gone beyond political vaudeville...

IBM has inked a $1.1 billion, 10-year information technology services contract with ABB, a Swiss power and automation technologies company. IBM Global Services will take responsibility for the operation and support of ABB's information systems infrastructure in 14 countries in Europe and North America, representing some 90 percent of ABB's information systems infrastructure. Under the deal, announced Monday, IBM will take over the management of ABB servers, operating systems, corporate networks, personal computers and help desks. The deal builds on two pilot contracts between the two companies signed in 2001 worth about $600 million. "This long-term deal allows us to...

The U.S. budget deficit doesn't foreshadow a decrease in defense spending, Northrop Grumman Corp. Chief Executive Ron Sugar said in an interview on Fox News on Monday. "It's interesting that only a (small) percent of our gross national product is devoted to defense, but nothing can be more important, in my judgment, than the obligation of a nation to defend its people," Sugar said. "Given the threat is real, I think the resources are going to have to be there." Sugar also told Fox News the threat of a ballistic missile attack on the U.S. is "imminent," and that the...

A key panel in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved Air Force plans to lease 100 Boeing Co. 767 refueling tankers, saying the lease would tie up less money in coming years than a purchase. The decision comes just one day after the Air Force shifted rocket launch contracts worth about $1 billion from Boeing to rival Lockheed Martin Corp. after Boeing acquired about 25,000 Lockheed documents during a 1998 contract competition. "(The tanker leasing proposal) allows us to replace the aging fleet more quickly, while retaining an essential combat capability over the next several decades," Rep. Duncan...

7/25/2003 - WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Air Force officials announced July 24 that the Boeing Company has committed serious violations of federal law. This determination is based on the service’s review into allegations of wrongdoing by Boeing during the 1998 evolved expendable launch vehicle source selection. As a result, the Air Force will suspend three Boeing Integrated Defense System business units and three former Boeing employees from eligibility for new government contracts. The suspensions are issued against the Boeing Company's Launch Systems, Boeing Launch Services and Delta Program business units as they existed in the Boeing organizational structure as of July...

The U.S. Air Force on Thursday announced it would shift rocket launch contracts valued at about $1 billion from Boeing Co. to its rival Lockheed Martin Corp. for acquiring around 25,000 Lockheed documents during a 1998 contract competition. Air Force Undersecretary Peter Teets said Boeing would lose seven of the 19 contracts it won under the Evolved Expendable Launc Vehicle (EELV) program in 1998. The Air Force also disqualified Boeing from a second set of three launches that would now go to Lockheed. "Boeing has committed serious and substantial violations of federal law," Teets told reporters, noting that he had...

$1 Billion in Contracts Yanked From Boeing The Air Force penalizes the firm for obtaining Lockheed's trade secrets while bidding on a rocket program. By Peter Pae Times Staff Writer July 25, 2003 The Air Force slammed Boeing Co. on Thursday with some of the harshest penalties ever imposed on a defense contractor, taking away at least $1 billion worth of rocket contracts and suspending the aerospace giant from future rocket work. The Air Force said it was punishing Boeing for its "serious violations of federal law" when it illicitly obtained thousands of pages of trade secrets from aerospace rival...

<p>A Swiss company's refusal to provide critical parts for the Pentagon's flagship Joint Direct Attack Munition during the Iraq war shows the need for "buy American" laws, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said yesterday.</p> <p>Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, also said Switzerland, a neutral nation, blocked delivery of grenades to British military forces during the conflict because it opposed the war.</p>

Iridium sets up shop in Iraq 10:17 Tuesday 22nd July 2003 Matthew Broersma  The satellite-phone company, whose services have already been used in Iraq by the US military, is set to roll out commercial sales in the region Satellite-phone company Iridium said on Monday it has been granted the right to sell its services in Iraq, where conventional telephone services have been severely damaged as a result of the war. Iridium already has a significant presence in Iraq as a result of a deal with the US Department of Defense initiated in 2000. Under that deal, renewed in December, the US...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.'Buy American' bill riles arms industry There is no better friend of the Pentagon than Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. A conservative and a hawk on defense, Hunter has long been someone the military could count on to push its dream projects through Congress. So there is considerable dismay, and some outright consternation, over sweeping "buy American" provisions that Hunter inserted into the House version of legislation authorizing the coming year's Pentagon budget. Countries that failed to help the United States in the Iraq war, he argues, should...

By Cynthia Johnston BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Mobile phone roaming services were mysteriously available in Baghdad on Tuesday, bringing cellular service -- banned under Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) -- to ordinary people in the Iraqi capital for the first time. Today - Tech Tuesday • Tablet PCs: The Write Stuff? How well do these screen scribblers work? Our expert fights writer's cramp to find out.   Yet officially, a tender for three mobile phone licenses the U.S.-led administration plans to offer across Iraq (news - web sites) has yet to take place. A U.S. military spokesman could not immediately...

Kent Hoover Washington Bureau Chief Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says he will urge President Bush to veto legislation authorizing defense programs unless new "Buy American" requirements are removed from the bill. As passed by the House, the bill increases the amount of U.S. content required in major Pentagon purchases from 50 percent to 65 percent, and requires defense contractors to use American-made machine tools, dies and industrial molds on future contracts. The legislation also adds eight new types of products to the list of defense purchases that must be 100 percent American. 'Buy American' provisions in bill The House...

US invites bids for mobile phone licences in IraqWeb posted at: 7/19/2003 1:7:23 Source ::: REUTERS An Iraqi technician fixing telephone lines in a neighbourhood in Baghdad. Most of the phone lines are down in Iraq with people, who can afford it, using a form of satellite phone. BAGHDAD: Iraq’s US-led administration invited potential bidders for three mobile telephone licences across the country to express their interest. The licences are one of the most potentially lucrative contracts to be offered in Iraq since the ousting of Saddam Hussein in April. “Companies, individuals or consortia that may wish to apply...

A day after announcing an investigation into the use of proprietary Lockheed Martin documents in an important Air Force rocket program, Boeing is reportedly involved in a lawsuit with a former employee who alleges that a similar incident took place with another space-related program. The Washington Post reported that a former worker sued Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, for wrongful termination stemming from the discovery of another worker's possession of proprietary Lockheed Martin information related to a satellite contract. See the Washington Post story. Boeing spokesman Dan Beck said the company couldn't comment on the case. But he did...

SpaceDev Wins Small Launch Vehicle Contract Friday, July 18, 2003 09:36 AM ET POWAY, Calif., July 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SpaceDev (OTC Bulletin Board: SPDV has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to design and begin the development of the SpaceDev Streaker™ small launch vehicle (SLV). SpaceDev Streaker™ will be designed to responsively and affordably lift up to 1,000 pounds to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). "SpaceDev is thrilled to be selected for this award," said Jim Benson founding chairman and chief executive of SpaceDev. "Our engineers have been working on a...

Two former Boeing Co. engineers have been indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiracy in connection with allegations that Boeing used documents from rival Lockheed Martin Corp. to win a $1.88 billion U.S. Air Force contract. The U.S. Attorney's office said the two men, named as Kenneth Branch and William Erskine, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles late on Thursday. Both men are charged with one count of conspiracy to conceal and possess trade secrets and are expected to be arraigned early next month. The charges arise from an alleged conspiracy to steal secrets...

Taiwan’s ongoing attempt to upgrade its aging submarine fleet seems to be gaining headway. Taipei wants as many as eight new generation diesel-electric submarines, but deciding upon the model and finding a shipyard to build them have been ongoing problems since the Bush administration gave the project the go-ahead in 2001 over protests from Europe and screeches of outrage from Beijing. Northrop Grumman has been involved in an ongoing idea-swapping process with the US Navy since last year, according to the Newport News Daily Press, which quotes Northrop spokesman Randy Belote as saying that “things are moving forward." If Northrop...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - With some lawmakers fuming over opposition by US allies to the Iraq (news - web sites) war, Congress is weighing a plan to force the Pentagon (news - web sites) to buy more US-made goods despite warnings from industry and the administration. AFP/File/Lockheed Martin Photo A "Buy America" amendment was passed by the House of Representatives in May as part of a defense authorization bill, requiring 65 percent of components in items bought by the Pentagon be made in the US, compared to 50 percent under current law. It would also require some components such as machine...