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Firms complain of chaotic ride to get Iraq business
Arlington, VA, Dec 05: Companies scrambling for lucrative deals to rebuild Iraq complained of a chaotic, unfair tender process with the new ministries and unrealistic bid times for a mass of US government contracts.
Arlington, VA, Dec 05: Companies scrambling for lucrative deals to rebuild Iraq complained of a chaotic, unfair tender process with the new ministries and unrealistic bid times for a mass of US government contracts.
Representatives from companies attending a reconstruction conference near Washington said tenders issued by Iraqi ministries were often subject to delays while ministry staff bickered over winners and were sometimes rebid when losers complained.
''We were told we had won a bid and then someone came back and said we had to bid again because someone was unhappy about it,'' an Iraqi-Canadian said of a bid he made to supply about 2 million in communications equipment.
He said his company had won one out of four bids it had made to various ministries, which are a good source of business for smaller companies excluded from the prime, billion-dollar deals to rebuild Iraq. He added some winning contractors were being told they had to pay ''commissions'' to mayors in the districts where they were working.
Asked to comment on complaints about tenders, Iraqi labor and Social Affairs Minister Sami Azara Al-Majoun said: ''I have not seen anything like this. We follow the law.''
Sam Kubba, president of the American-Iraqi Chamber of Commerce, said his office had received about 20 complaints from potential bidders over the tender process.
Tens of billions of dollars are being spent to rebuild Iraq, with funding coming from US Government departments, the US-led coalition provisional authority, the new Iraqi ministries and donations from a conference in Madrid in October. The billion-dollar deals are being given to leading companies that then subcontract work to hundreds of small and medium-sized firms worldwide.
Bureau Report
''We were told we had won a bid and then someone came back and said we had to bid again because someone was unhappy about it,'' an Iraqi-Canadian said of a bid he made to supply about 2 million in communications equipment.
He said his company had won one out of four bids it had made to various ministries, which are a good source of business for smaller companies excluded from the prime, billion-dollar deals to rebuild Iraq. He added some winning contractors were being told they had to pay ''commissions'' to mayors in the districts where they were working.
Asked to comment on complaints about tenders, Iraqi labor and Social Affairs Minister Sami Azara Al-Majoun said: ''I have not seen anything like this. We follow the law.''
Sam Kubba, president of the American-Iraqi Chamber of Commerce, said his office had received about 20 complaints from potential bidders over the tender process.
Tens of billions of dollars are being spent to rebuild Iraq, with funding coming from US Government departments, the US-led coalition provisional authority, the new Iraqi ministries and donations from a conference in Madrid in October. The billion-dollar deals are being given to leading companies that then subcontract work to hundreds of small and medium-sized firms worldwide.
Bureau Report