Contractors Line Up for Iraq Construction Dollars Contractors by the thousands are volunteering for the next invasion of Iraq: the massive effort to rebuild an infrastructure that has been bashed by bombs, trashed by looters and devastated by years of international sanctions and wanton theft by the country’s former leaders. This new coalition of the willing includes companies from dozens of nations. Their primary target is Bechtel National Inc., which was awarded a $680 million reconstruction contract by the Agency for International Development. Bechtel’s informational website on the project, at https://contractor.bechtel.com/portal/index.jsp, has attracted 86,000 hits in less than a month. More than 4,500 companies from 72 countries “are serious enough to register” as potential subcontractors, said Howard Menaker, a Bechtel spokesman in Washington. The British trade minister, Baroness Symons, paid a personal visit to the Bechtel’s Washington office to tout the qualifications of her nation’s companies, the New York Times reported. About 1,800 contractors and their representatives swarmed around Bechtel executives at a May 21 industry meeting in Washington. Bechtel officials said they expect to subcontract at least 75% of the reconstruction work. They estimated the average subcontract awarded so far is worth about $500,000. But they emphasized the difficulties: “Everybody will be responsible for their own security, their own food, their own water,” Menaker said in an interview. Bechtel’s acquisition services manager for the contract, Tom Elkins, told the Washington crowd the company plans to create a bidders’ list of about 1,000 firms and will seek competitive bids on most subcontracts. He urged bidders to make their “best and final offers the first time,” because Bechtel plans to award contracts quickly. The company has also held open meetings for contractors in London and Kuwait City. Bechtel’s contract, capped at $680 million, calls for reconstruction and repair of “one seaport, five airports, miscellaneous electric power systems, road networks, rail systems, municipal water and sanitation services, school and health facilities, select government buildings, and irrigation systems,” the company said. That may be just the beginning. The total cost of rebuilding Iraq is estimated to run into the billions of dollars. Many members of Congress have protested the award of the first reconstruction contracts on a sole-source or restricted-bid basis and have called for full and open competition for future work. Bechtel was one of seven companies invited to bid on its contract. AID said it invited bids from companies with established track records and security clearances in order to expedite the bidding.