WASHINGTON, April 12 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., is seeking hearings on government billings by a Halliburton Co. unit, mostly for importing fuel to Iraq.
The issue concerns Pentagon audit reports questioning about $212 million in billings for work performed by the Houston-based Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root in 2003 and 2004 under a no-bid contract, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
In summaries of the audit reports Waxman released Monday, auditors criticized KBR for not negotiating new prices with a vendor in Kuwait after the initial rush when the war started. They also questioned why KBR agreed to pay subcontractors in Turkey more than the negotiated price for fuel after prices had jumped.
Waxman said hearings were needed to investigate the "mismanagement" of the Development Fund for Iraq, which paid for much of the KBR work.
A Halliburton spokeswoman told the Post the questioning by auditors "is all part of the normal contracting process." She said Waxman "fails to take into account" KBR was performing an urgent mission in a wartime environment.
