AP Features, March 21st, 2007
Congress has moved a step closer to placing a one-year moratorium on Pentagon competitions to outsource military hospital work to private companies.
The provision was included in a bill approved 59-0 late Tuesday by the House Armed Services Committee and expected to be considered by the full House later this week.
The moratorium was added to the legislation in the wake of outrage over an Associated Press report that a three-year delay in awarding an Army contract at Walter Reed Army Medical Center contributed to substandard conditions and inadequate non-medical staffing there.
The provision, introduced by Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, would prevent the Defense Department from starting any contract bidding that would let private companies and existing government managers compete for non-medical work at veterans' treatment centers.
Members of Congress have asked the Pentagon for a comprehensive list of all public-private competitions at treatment centers following criticism of the drawn-out process that led to IAP Worldwide Services Inc. getting the Walter Reed contract in 2006.
IAP is led by former executives of Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, the Texas-based oil services firm once run by Vice President Dick Cheney. It is owned by Cerberus, a New York hedge fund whose board is chaired by former Treasury Secretary John Snow.
No similar bill has yet been introduced in the Senate.
IAP Chairman David L. Myers on Wednesday sent a three-page letter to lawmakers detailing its role at the Walter Reed facility and the government competition to outsource non-medical federal jobs.
Neither the Pentagon nor the Army directly addressed the legislation.
"The U.S. Army's priority is providing the highest quality care and services to soldiers and their families," said Army spokesman Paul Boyce.
Defense Department spokeswoman Cynthia Smith pointed to plans to close Walter Reed by 2011 and move patients to another military hospital in Bethesda, Md.
"The Department recognizes the concerns associated with this major transition, and will give the utmost attention to ensure it is planned and implemented in the most careful way," Smith said in an e-mail.
