U.S. Companies Get Contracts to Build Schools, Government

As Saddam Hussein’s regime continued to collapse into chaos Friday, the Bush administration announced that it has hired two private American companies to lay the groundwork for rebuilding Iraq’s school system and usher in a new era of democratic local government in a nation that has spent a quarter-century under iron-fisted rule.

The companies won two of eight contracts the U.S. Agency for International Development has offered to U.S. firms to rebuild postwar Iraq. USAID has yet to award the biggest of the contracts -- at least $600 million in reconstruction work for Iraq’s roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, power plants, airports and other infrastructure.

Although the two contracts totaled just $10 million, a USAID spokeswoman said, “Those are just the initial amounts. The total one-year amount obviously will be much higher.”

Under the first $7.9-million installment of the local-governance contract the agency announced late Friday, the Research Triangle Institute of North Carolina will be responsible for promoting “Iraqi participation” at the local level in the postwar rebuilding effort, the agency said.

USAID documents show that the nonprofit institute ultimately will be required to assist in identifying “legitimate leaders” to run Iraq’s villages and towns, creating democratic institutions, “building rapport” between military forces and Iraqi citizens, and recommending ways to turn power over to Iraqis at the grass-roots level.

The North Carolina company already has more than 90 contracts with an array of U.S. government agencies.

Meanwhile, a contract to rebuild Iraq’s primary and secondary educational system, where 75% of school-age children are not enrolled, went to the for-profit Washington-based Creative Associates International Inc.