USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] began approaching preselected bidders for postwar Iraq work as early as late January, when the possibility of going to war with Iraq was still being hotly debated at the United Nations. Requests for proposals went out for four contracts in mid-February, with two more early last month. Altogether, the work -- including rebuilding highways and bridges and rehabilitating Iraq's school system -- is expected to cost at least $1.7 billion.
[...]
The uncertainty over how to proceed also reflects mounting unease over the U.S.-led military campaign, which has so far offered scant evidence that average Iraqis are ready to embrace American control of their country.
Reconstruction officials within the administration had planned to use the southern city of Basra as a test case for the U.S. rebuilding effort. Iraq's second-largest city has a dominant Shiite population that has long been at odds with Saddam Hussein. But continued fighting there, and signs that the local population might be less receptive than some predicted, have put those plans on hold.
Competition for the big infrastructure-rebuilding contract, valued at $600 million, was limited to seven large U.S. engineering companies, several of which have now either been dropped from the running or formed teams with other bidders. People involved in the bidding say the lead competitors are Bechtel Corp. and Parsons Corp, which has taken on Halliburton Co.'s Kellogg Brown & Root as a subcontractor. Halliburton announced Monday that its KBR division won't seek to be the prime contractor for rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, but "remains a potential subcontractor for this important work."
Silence is golden, and secrecy is wealth.
Next up, a different angle on Halliburton's multifaceted activities — domestic natural gas (sub. req'd):
Halliburton has significant leverage to the global natural gas market, through both its energy services business and KBR division, [Chief Operating Officer Doug] Foshee said.
It is poised to benefit from any future natural gas drilling in the U.S. by virtue of having had a stake in the drilling of three-quarters of the known gas reserves in the combined territories of the western U.S., Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, he said.
