a bit more on blackwater

and their contracts. nothing we don't already know. i've already posted about them and the small business adminisration. and of course even though they may (OR MAY NOT BE) under investigation, sadly, most likely NOTHING will be done about them or TO them

Auditors Question Blackwater Contracts

by: Elizabeth Olson, International Herald Tribune
Washington - Blackwater Worldwide, the contractor whose provision of private security in Iraq has been under scrutiny, and its affiliated companies may have improperly obtained more than $100 million in contracts meant for small businesses, according to federal auditors.

A report by the Small Business Administration's inspector general, issued in July, found that Blackwater and its affiliates, including Presidential Airways, won 39 contracts in the fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007 despite
indications that the companies employed more than the number specified by the U.S. government. In some cases, the report said, the companies also had higher revenues than allowed for a small business............

..........When rival firms had challenged the 2006 contract for helicopter services to Presidential Airways on grounds that the company was too large, the airline provided data that 28 Blackwater-affiliated entities had a total of only 715 employees.

But the inspector general found that Blackwater had hired more than a thousand independent contractors and treated them as if they were regular employees, with scheduled shifts, for example, which called the size determination into question. The report also said the Small Business Administration should have "attempted to reconcile discrepancies" in the data Blackwater provided...........