WASHINGTON — A half-completed prison in Iraq that cost $40 million marked the biggest reconstruction failure identified to date by a U.S. government watchdog, which on Monday laid responsibility for the project with a Pasadena contractor.
The company, Parsons Corp., said the project was too dangerous to finish.
The Khan Bani Saad Correctional Facility, just north of Baghdad, was one of several projects cited in an audit of Parsons' security and justice-related contracts released by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. The audit found that Parsons, one of the largest construction contractors in the $50-billion U.S. effort to rebuild Iraq, received $142 million for prisons and other facilities that were never completed.
"It's the largest shortfall we've uncovered for a single project," Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said of the Khan Bani Saad facility. His office has spent four years auditing efforts to rebuild the war-torn country.
The shortfall tops that of another Parsons project, the Baghdad Police College. Bowen's office estimated last year that the U.S. government would end up paying Parsons $62 million to construct and renovate the police facility, a project that was poorly managed and riddled with severe plumbing problems.
"At least the Baghdad Police College is open, operating and graduating police officers," Bowen said in an interview. "The Khan Bani Saad prison will apparently never house prisoners."
In a lengthy statement, Parsons said it did its best given the violence in Iraq. It noted that one of its subcontractors on the prison project was fatally shot while sitting in his office in Khan Bani Saad.
"The Khan Bani Saad corrections facility was a uniquely difficult assignment," the firm said. "The facility was located in a region plagued by violent sectarian warfare, particularly during the months that Parsons was on that project."
The 48-page audit highlighted the difficulties the Pentagon has encountered in trying to rebuild key facilities and infrastructure after the U.S.-led invasion to oust former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Parsons landed one of the largest rebuilding contracts -- $900 million -- focusing on security infrastructure.
