- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
U.S. Army has cancelled a $327 million (177 million pound) contract to
equip the Iraqi army, citing technical problems with the bidding process
and denied political considerations played a role in awarding the original
contract.
-
- An Army official told reporters on Friday that new proposals
for the work would be sought after a review found a huge spread in competing
bids, an indication that competing suppliers had not understood the contract
requirements in a uniform way.
-
- "When we looked at the statement of work we saw
that there were some ambiguities in there," said the U.S. Army official
who spoke on condition he was not further identified.
-
- Losing companies have claimed their bids were not properly
assessed, that Virginia-based Nour USA had made an unrealistically low
bid and that it did not have the experience to fulfil the contract.
-
- Nour USA has said it stands by its proposal and insists
it won the deal on merit. Its chairman, Houda Farouki, is a close friend
of Iraqi Governing Council member Ahmed Chalabi.
-
- Efforts to reach a Nour representative about the cancellation
were not immediately successful.
-
- The U.S. Army official rejected suggestions that political
connections played a role in the initial award to Nour.
-
- "We don't know of any and I will tell you the procurement
process is pretty much exempt from those sorts of things," he said.
"I want to make it very clear that Nour's capabilities are not being
assumed to be invalid."
-
- A new contract would immediately be sought by the U.S.
Army Materiel Command located in Northern Virginia. The original award
was made by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
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