US Army may take back Halliburton's $13 Billion contract after costs dispute

The US army is preparing to abandon a contract with Halliburton, the company formerly run by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, which has been investigated for allegedly overcharging it. The contract to provide housing, food and other services to US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, potentially worth $13bn, is expected to be broken into smaller parts and opened to competitive bids in the next few months. The Halliburton division awarded the contract, Kellogg Brown & Root, has been fighting a rearguard action against allegations of massive overcharging for much of the past year. Last month Pentagon auditors suggested that the army should withhold payment of 15% of Halliburton's invoices in Iraq, saying that the company had been unable to account properly for at least $1.8bn of the $4.3bn it had so far asked for. [more ]