In Wake of UN's Darfur Contract with Lockheed, Promotions and Partying But No Peace

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un4procure051308.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 -- The Security Council was told on Wednesday that only 26% of the approved UN positions for peacekeeping in Sudan's Darfur region have been filled, due in large part to "harsh living and working conditions in Darfur." Back on October 15, the UN quietly went public with a no-bid $250 million contract with U.S.-based military contractor Lockheed Martin for camps and infrastructure in Darfur. Now, seven months later, there has been little deployment, little work by Lockheed Martin, and an amateur assault on Khartoum by Darfur-based rebels which is seen as undermining future whole-hearted deployment.

In this context, and with the UN Procurement Division making its presentation to the Budget Committee, it is time to review the Division's largest contract in years, the no-bid contract to Lockheed for infrastructure in Darfur. Following controversy about the lack of competition, a group of contract managed from Spain has been brought in, to manage the contract.

Even while the Office of Internal Oversight Service belated conducts the General Assembly-mandate investigation of the "extraordinary measures" enacted for the Lockheed contract and the UNAMID Mission, many of those most involved in awarding the contract have been celebrating and getting promotions.

Dmitri Dovgopoly, a Ukrainian national intimately involved in the awarding of the contract, was subsequently rewarded with a promotion to the D-1 Director level. (Sources say he used his influence to procure another P-5 post in the Controller's unit for a close friend.)

Chantal Malle, who was head of Procurement's Darfur unit when the contract was awarded, was rewarded with a much sought-after posting to Cyprus, as chief procurement officer there.

Paul Buades, the acting head of the Procurement Division, involved not only in the Lockheed no-bid contract but in tweaking the request for proposals at the request of the French mission to the UN, is in limbo, waiting for a D-2 promotion said to be stalled on the desk of Deputy Chief of Staff Kim Won-soo. While that accountability still hangs in the balance, it remains to be seen if the General Assembly's Budget Committee will follow through on the concerns it has expressed about the no-bid contract to Lockheed and other irregularities. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un4procure051308.html