The US government has invited at least five engineering companies to submit bids for a contract to do reconstruction work in Iraq, US and company officials said.
The winning company would get about $900 million to repair Iraqi health services, ports and airports, and schools and other educational institutions.
"Because of the urgent circumstances and the unique nature of this work, USAID will undertake a limited selection process that expedites the review and selection of contractors for these projects," said a spokeswoman for the US Agency for International Development.
The Wall Street Journal said invitations also went to Parsons Corp., Louis Berger Group Inc and Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of the Halliburton Co, once headed by Vice-President Dick Cheney.
The USAID spokeswoman, asked to explain the narrow selection of companies for such a large contract and the secrecy of the procedure, said: "These are not companies which are new to this type of work." Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root has already won a government contract to oversee firefighting operations at Iraqi oilfields. - (Reuters)