WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has launched a review of one of the private contractors involved in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal to determine whether to bar the company from future federal business, company and government officials said Thursday.
The General Services Administration asked Virginia-based CACI International Inc. for information on the contract under which it provided civilian interrogators to the prison, company officials said. At least one CACI employee has been named in a military report as contributing to the abuse at the prison outside Baghdad.
Company officials pledged to cooperate. Neither the company nor any employee has been criminally charged in connection with the abuse.
"We continue to actively support every investigation and inquiry that has come our way," J.P. "Jack" London, the company's chief executive, said during a conference call Thursday with stock analysts.
The GSA inquiry is one of five underway involving the company and is the latest to raise questions about the history of its contract.
At issue is whether the agreement was being used appropriately or manipulated beyond its original intent.
The use of civilians to interrogate prisoners in Iraq has come under scrutiny in part because it is unclear how they can be held accountable for their conduct.
The contract was initially issued by the Army to a company called Premier Technology Group in 1998 to sell computer technology. As a result of a government decision and a business acquisition, it wound up five years later as a contract with CACI, under the control of the Interior Department, to provide civilian interrogators to the U.S. military in Iraq.
In addition to the GSA, the company is facing investigations by the Interior Department, the Army inspector general and the Defense Contract Auditing Agency, as well as an overall intelligence inquiry by the Army.
CACI's stock fell nearly 12% after the announcement of the GSA review. The company said that as much as 35% of its revenue stemmed from work with the GSA, the federal government's supply and services arm.
Contract experts said CACI's situation illustrated the kind of problems created under the push by recent U.S. administrations to outsource more government jobs while shrinking federal oversight.
