Audit faults Halliburton unit for shielding Iraq contract data

The audit by special inspector general for Iraqi reconstruction projects, Stuart Bowen, said the practice by Kellog Brown and Root Services Inc. was "an abuse" of federal procurement regulations.

"KBR is not protecting its own data, but is in many instances inappropriately restricting the government's use of information that KBR is required to gather for the government," he said in a report.

Halliburton and its KBR subsidiary have been the target of numerous contracting controversies since it was awarded a no-bid 2.4 billion dollar contract to supply the US military on the eve of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Past disputes have had political impact because Vice President Dick Cheney headed the oil services contract before he ran as George W. Bush's running mate in the 2000 elections.

The audit looked only at a KBR task order to provide fuel and food for the US embassy in Iraq.

But the auditor said KBR's "inappropriate use of protective data markings ... could be a systemic problem occurring throughout the Army's LOGCAP contract."

It found that KBR was labelling almost all reports required under the contract as proprietary data for official use only and not releasable to the public.