Houston-based KBR gets $50 billion Army contract.

From Chron:

WASHINGTON — Houston-based KBR will share in a new, 10-year military contract valued at up to $150 billion, the U.S. Army said Wednesday.

The Army Sustainment Command has selected the former Halliburton Co. subsidiary, along with Fort Worth-based DynCorp International and Fluor Intercontinental of Greenville, S.C., to provide an array of support services for U.S. troops.

Under the new contract, each of the three will have an opportunity to bid for work as the Army assigns various tasks. Each company will be limited to $5 billion in a given year and $50 billion over the life of the contract.

For the last five years, KBR has had sole responsibility for building bases, serving up chow and providing a host of other support services for U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries.

But rather than rely on just one company to perform all those services, the Army said it hoped to stimulate competition by splitting up the work among three different players.

KBR has come under fire repeatedly regarding possible overcharges and sloppy paperwork. The company has said it is cooperating with the government in trying to address those concerns.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called it a "good step that the wasteful monopoly contract with KBR is being broken up."

Waxman and other critics have long been skeptical about KBR's military contracts, in no small part because before he was vice president, Dick Cheney served as chief executive officer of Halliburton — KBR's parent company until the two were separated earlier this year.

The Army came under fire in the earliest days of the war for handing Halliburton a different, multibillion dollar contract to repair Iraq's oil fields without seeking bids from other players.