Iraq Contract Dollars To Flow Through Large Primes Small businesses will be shut out of prime contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq unless they team with larger partners, the new reconstruction contracting czar said. In meetings with business executives and reporters, retired Rear Adm. David Nash, director of the Coalition Provisional Authority’s Program Management Office, brushed aside questions about small business participation. He said small firms must target large primes to market their services. Nash said the Program Management Office, formerly known as the Iraq Infrastructure Reconstruction Office, is planning about 25 large cost-plus-incentive contracts. All will be full and open competitions and most will be task order, indefinite quantity contracts. Nash said the office will identify about 2,000 construction and reconstruction projects to be carried out under the contracts. He pledged “maximum transparency from the beginning to the end,” in contrast to the sole-source and limited-bid awards that were made during the first round of Iraq contracts. Congress appropriated $18.7 billion for Iraqi reconstruction. Almost $14 billion will go for construction projects; most of the remainder will pay for security. Explaining the decision to award large contracts, Nash said, “It is my personal opinion that there are only a few entities in this world that can do a job of this magnitude.” He spoke to more than 1,300 business people at his office’s industry day Nov. 19 in Arlington, Va. Another industry day was held Nov. 21 in London. Because the contracts will be performed overseas, Nash told reporters, the office is not required by law to set aside any work for small businesses. Prime contractors are not required to draw up subcontracting plans that direct some of the work to small firms. The House passed an amendment to the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill that would have required small businesses to be included in subcontracting plans, but that provision was dropped from the final bill. Several small-business executives at the conference complained that they have no time to form teams because the contracts are on a fast track. RFPs for the prime contracts are to be released around Dec. 5, with the awards by Jan. 30. Subcontracting opportunities for U.S. firms may be limited by another of the Coalition Provisional Authority’s policies: “One of our first goals is to build the construction industry in Iraq,” Nash said. The contracts will be awarded by existing federal agencies – most notably the Army Corps of Engineers and the Agency for International Development – with the Program Management Office responsible for project design and management. Most of the work will rebuild infrastructure that is suffering from decades of neglect under Saddam Hussein’s regime and that was heavily damaged by looters after the regime was toppled last spring, said Andrew Bearpark, a Briton who is director of operations and infrastructure for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. He said damage from looting is “far, far greater” than that caused by U.S. and coalition forces during the war. Nash said the Program Management Office will lean heavily on its prime contractors. The office has a staff of 100 to 150 government employees, borrowed from various agencies, working in suburban Washington and Baghdad. Although the Coalition Provisional Authority is scheduled to disband next summer when a new Iraqi government takes over the country, Nash said the Program Management Office or its successor will continue to supervise reconstruction projects for as long as American money is being spent. He estimated the reconstruction will take three or four years. Nash, a former commander of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, described himself as “just the construction stiff,” not a policymaker. His principal deputies are Deidre Lee, the Defense Department’s director of procurement and acquisition policy, and Tina Ballard, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for procurement. For more information, go to www.rebuilding-iraq.net.