Iraq Contract Irregularities Are Alleged The Air Force committed an “obvious error” when it used a sole-source contract to hire Iraqi exiles as advisers, the Government Accountability Office said. REEP Inc. of New York, also known as Operational Support Services, was awarded two contracts worth more than $45 million to provide bilingual people “committed to a democratic Iraq.” They were to serve as advisers to the new Iraqi government and other groups in the country, according to GAO’s findings. GAO sustained a protest by WorldWide Language Resources Inc. of Andover, ME, and SOS International Ltd. of New York. Both companies said they could have provided qualified personnel if they had been allowed to bid. GAO said the Air Force awarded the sole-source contract because its contract officers were feeling “significant pressure” from the Defense Department. GAO urged the Air Force to recompete the contract. Arrests Over Iraq Contracting A former U.S. official in Iraq and an expatriate American businessman were arrested last month in the first criminal case alleging corruption in contracts to rebuild the country. Robert J. Stein Jr., a comptroller for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, is accused of accepting $546,000 in return for steering $13 million in contracts to companies controlled by Philip H. Bloom, an American citizen living in Romania. The Justice Department said another unidentified official is cooperating in the investigation. The two are charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and wire fraud in connection with a bribery and fraud scheme. More criminal charges will be forthcoming in connection with Iraq contracts, Ginger Cruz, the deputy special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, told The Washington Post.