Pentagon to Probe KBR Contracts

The Pentagon will investigate a top contracting official’s claims that a Halliburton Co. subsidiary unfairly won no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars for work in Iraq and the Balkans.

The complaint alleges that awarding contracts to KBR to restore Iraq’s oil industry and to supply and feed U.S. troops in the Balkans put “the integrity of the federal contracting program” at risk. It seeks to protect the whistle-blower, Bunnatine Greenhouse, chief contracting officer of the Army Corps of Engineers, from retaliation.

An Army attorney said in a letter that the matter was being referred to the Pentagon’s inspector general. The letter said the corps had been ordered to “suspend any adverse personnel action” against Greenhouse “until a sufficient record is available to address” her complaint.

Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said a report from the Government Accounting Office found that the Iraq contract had been properly awarded.