Profiteering Investigated in Army Food Contracts Federal investigators are looking into possible price gouging on contracts to feed troops in Iraq and Kuwait, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Journal said the investigation involves some of the largest American food processors, including Perdue Farms Inc., Sara Lee Corp. and ConAgra Foods Inc. According to the report, those companies and others hired former military procurement officials to help them get the sole source contracts. Federal investigators are also looking into whether the Army’s prime food vendor for the war zone, Public Warehousing Co. of Kuwait, has accepted improper payments from its subcontractors. The company denies wrongdoing. The Army Center for Excellence, Subsistence, at Fort Lee, VA, directed that the Army buy chicken breast, turkey breast, ham and sausage from Sara Lee, the Journal reported. Tyson Foods, one of the largest chicken processors, has protested to the Defense Department that it has been shut out by the sole source deals. The same agency directed that virtually all beef for U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait be purchased from Quantum Foods of Illinois, the Journal said. According to documents examined by the newspaper, Quantum was charging $5.66 a pound for ungraded T-bone steak, approximately equal to the retail price, although the Army was buying it by the truckload. Investigators are looking at whether Public Warehousing allowed its suppliers to overcharge the government and received large discounts or refunds from them. Public Warehousing says any discounts it received were incentives for prompt payment. Public Warehousing is the subject of “a very large and active investigation into criminal and civil fraud involving amounts in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” Justice Department lawyer Brian Mizoguchi told a Federal Claims Court judge in Washington last June, according to the Journal. The DOD inspector general’s office told Congress last month that at least 90 investigations are underway into contracting activities in the war zone. Many of them involve activities at the main staging base, Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Army Secretary Pete Geren has ordered two reviews of wartime procurement practices. (SAA, 9/28)