By DAVID PHINNEY
The General Services Administration is reviewing a
technology company, Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), for
its role in using a technology contract to provide dozens of
interrogators and intelligence support personnel at the U.S.
naval base prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to an
administration procurement official.
Although the $13.3 million contract was written for
technology engineering services and managed by the Interior
Department, the agreement has been used largely for hiring
30 intelligence analysts and 15 to 20 interrogators,
according to Raul Duany, spokesman for the U.S. Southern
Command, which oversees
Guantanamo
.
That may be cause for suspension or debarment from future
government work if GSA determines that ACS, a Dallas-based
company purchased by Lockheed Martin last November, played
an active role in helping draft the statement of work or
other inappropriate behavior.
Lockheed spokesman Thomas Greer said GSA has asked the
company for information about the ACS contract. “We have
answered the inquiry and it is our belief it will not result
in debarment or suspension,” Greer said.
GSA spokeswoman Mary Alice Johnson said that it is a
standing policy to “neither confirm nor deny” debarment
or suspension reviews.
This is the second technology contract managed by the
Interior Department’s
National
Business
Center
known to be under GSA scrutiny after being used to hire
interrogators. The first involved CACI International Inc., a
technology firm that found itself the subject of an
investigation into prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in
Iraq
. On July 7, GSA cleared CACI of any wrongdoing worthy of
debarment or suspension.
An Army investigation earlier this year revealed CACI, of
Arlington
,
Va.
, provided interrogators to the prison operation under two
Army task orders. The task orders were issued under a CACI
contract for technology services managed by Interior and on
the GSA federal supply schedules.
The ACS contract for
Guantanamo
also originated with GSA when Southern Command contacted
GSA’s
Kansas City
,
Mo.
, office in October 2002 for contract assistance in the
hiring of interrogators, Duany said. When GSA put the
contract request up for competition, the proposal was veiled
as a technology contract, he said.
GSA terminated that contract in November after a GSA
investigation found the contract was being used for purposes
other than technology and being paid for with federal funds
specifically earmarked for technology purchases, Duany said.
“We had to stop with GSA because it said it couldn’t act
as contracting officer,” Duany said.
In January 2004, the Interior Department agreed to manage a
similar contract with the same company on behalf of Southern
Command, but as an engineering contract through GSA. Because
interrogation services with ACS needed to continue without
interruption, the contract was written without first taking
competing bids from other companies, Duany and an Interior
spokesman said.
“We had severe time constraints and were pressured with
concerns for national security and the war on terror,”
Duany added.
However, when the abuses at Abu Ghraib began making news in
the spring, GSA revisited the ACS contract and advised
Interior it again was out of scope. The administration
procurement official, who is familiar with the situation,
said GSA put CACI and ACS under review for debarment or
suspension about the same time. The Abu Ghraib
investigation, made public in April, implicated one of those
CACI interrogators, Steven Stephanowicz, in its
determination that Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib had been
tortured and abused.
GSA determined earlier this month that CACI can continue
doing business with the government. Federal contracts make
up 64 percent of CACI’s revenue, which totaled $843
million in 2003.
“I do not feel that, at this time, it is necessary for me
to take any formal action to protect the interests of the
federal government,” said Joseph Neurauter, GSA’s
suspension and debarment official, in a July 7 letter to
CACI chief executive officer Jack London.
Still, CACI isn’t off the hook. The company is a subject
of an investigation by Interior’s inspector general, and
Neurauter named several areas he wanted to explore more
fully, including CACI’s role in suggesting and drafting
descriptions of the work the company performed in
Iraq
.
“I believe that CACI’s possible role in preparing
statements of work continues to be an open issue and
potential conflict of interest,” Neurauter wrote in his
letter, which requested further response from the company.
CACI, which largely focuses on providing information
technology services to the Defense Department, was pleased
with GSA’s decision and says it is cooperating with
GSA’s probe. In a July 7 statement on its Web site, the
company said GSA requested information “illustrating
CACI’s understanding that all parties to a transaction,
including contractors, are responsible for ensuring that the
rules are followed and the integrity of the system
maintained.”
“CACI welcomes the opportunity to provide the additional
information requested by GSA in order to eliminate any
misunderstandings and clearly convey its commitment to
complying with all of the rules governing purchases by the
U.S.
government,” the statement said.
Interior spokesman Frank Quimby said the Interior officers
managing the two contracts formerly worked for the Army at
Fort Huachuca
,
Ariz.
, before Interior took over the operation as part of a
military downsizing.
“They thought they were acting within the rules and
regulations,” Quimby said. “They saw this as an urgent
need and wanted to do what they could to help.”
Interior has since adopted a policy to not manage any
contracts for interrogation or human intelligence gathering.
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