DynCorp International Inc.’s agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers over disputed work in Afghanistan “wasn’t a settlement, it was a mugging,” according to the U.S. watchdog of wartime spending there.
John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, commented in response to findings by the Corps of Engineers that a $73 million payment to the contractor for overseeing work on a garrison at Camp Pamir in Kunduz province “was proper and reasonable although it was not favorable to” the U.S. government.
Your-POC.com reported in a previous article that the government freed DynCorp from responsibility while long-standing deficiencies remained. He asked the Corps of Engineers to justify the settlement.
Even though “the process followed was inconsistent with Corps policy, there was sufficient information” to “believe that the final negotiated modification was the best course of action,” Colonel John Hurley, deputy commander of the Corps’ Transatlantic Division, said.
Sopko, who heads an independent agency created by Congress to oversee U.S. spending in Afghanistan, rejected that conclusion in an e-mailed statement.
“The Corps’ own internal review says they didn’t make DynCorp pay to fix their shoddy construction, they didn’t collect the liquidated damages that DynCorp owed them, and they violated their own settlement policies,” he said. “But they still think the settlement was ’proper and reasonable.’” Sopko said. “That wasn’t a settlement, it was a mugging.” “We want to make sure that someone is held accountable and taxpayers are made whole,” Sopko said.
Source: POC.com
John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, commented in response to findings by the Corps of Engineers that a $73 million payment to the contractor for overseeing work on a garrison at Camp Pamir in Kunduz province “was proper and reasonable although it was not favorable to” the U.S. government.
Your-POC.com reported in a previous article that the government freed DynCorp from responsibility while long-standing deficiencies remained. He asked the Corps of Engineers to justify the settlement.
Even though “the process followed was inconsistent with Corps policy, there was sufficient information” to “believe that the final negotiated modification was the best course of action,” Colonel John Hurley, deputy commander of the Corps’ Transatlantic Division, said.
Sopko, who heads an independent agency created by Congress to oversee U.S. spending in Afghanistan, rejected that conclusion in an e-mailed statement.
“The Corps’ own internal review says they didn’t make DynCorp pay to fix their shoddy construction, they didn’t collect the liquidated damages that DynCorp owed them, and they violated their own settlement policies,” he said. “But they still think the settlement was ’proper and reasonable.’” Sopko said. “That wasn’t a settlement, it was a mugging.” “We want to make sure that someone is held accountable and taxpayers are made whole,” Sopko said.
Source: POC.com