PRT SALAH AD DIN: LOCALS CHAFE AT PROVINCIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001969 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/27/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PINS ECON KCRS IZ SUBJECT: PRT SALAH AD DIN: LOCALS CHAFE AT PROVINCIAL CAPITAL PROJECT CONTRACTING PROCESS Classified By: PRT Team Leader Richard Bell for reasons 1(b) and 1 (d). ¶1. (U) This is a PRT Salah ad Din reporting cable. ¶2. (C) Summary and Comment: The tight hold that the governing clique from the Juboori tribe keeps on the Salah ad Din (SaD) provincial capital project contracting process is a bone of contention for district officials and citizens in Salah ad Din and a recurrent topic with PRT and BCT representatives. SaD Deputy Governor Abdullah Jabara however justifies the dominant Juboori role by arguing there are insufficient qualified and certified contractors outside their ranks to do the work. PRT, in conjunction with RTI's Local Governance Program, has sought to increase the pool of available contractors and enhance local understanding of the process through sponsorship of a series of conferences throughout Salah ad Din province. Broadening the stakeholders and promoting greater contracting transparency are integral steps toward enhancing the legitimacy of local and provincial governments. End Summary and Comment. No Contracts For Locals ) Al Alam Gets Them All -------------- -- ¶3. (C) A constant source of frustration PRT and BCT officials hear in meetings with nearly every mayor and city council is the inability of local contractors to win capital budget projects in the cities where those projects are located. Local officials point directly to Deputy Governor Abdullah Jabara of the Juboori tribe as the key person responsible for steering contracts to his preferred contractors. Local officials say, correctly, that many capital budget projects go to a small number of contractors from Jabara's hometown of Al Alam, just outside of Tikrit, where many of the provincial elite live. ¶4. (C) Until several months ago, Jabara was the key decision-maker on who got what contract. After several heated discussions in the SaD Provincial Council (PC),he agreed to form a committee that would be responsible for making contracting decisions. He is not on that committee, but he named his close crony and Assistant Governor for Security Ahmed Abdullah (more commonly known as Abu Mazin), to head that committee, allowing Jabara to deny involvement with contracting issues while at the same time ensuring continued control of contracting by the Jubooris. Contractors Conferences a First Step -------------- ¶5. (C) When questioned, Jabara asserts that there are insufficient certified local contractors who can do the work and that few contractors actually understand the process. In order to ensure that local contractors were certified and did understand the process, the PRT in conjunction with RTI's Local Governance Program, held a series of "Contractors Conferences" in various cities throughout the province in order to ensure they met all of the requirements to bid on provincial contracts and to understand their role in the process. ¶6. (C) After a huge turnout of nearly 200 contractors at the Provincial Conference in Tikrit, where key players - including Jabara - explained the process, the PRT refined the agenda for conferences in Samarra and Baiji. The key addition was a representative from the Ministry of Planning (MoP) in Baghdad who clearly explained what the law says. At the Samarra Conference, which was marred by the no-show of invited and confirmed provincial officials - which only served to further reinforce the deeply-held belief by Samarrans that the provincial leadership does not care about them - contractors agreed to work together to open a local contracting office that would serve as a clearinghouse for all project tender information. ¶7. (C) The industrial city of Baiji is where we hear the loudest complaints about contracting. The conference there was attended by both the MoP and by Abu Mazin, who listened and responded to heated complaints from the large group of attendees. One unexpected benefit was that contractors learned that local (i.e. district) officials have no role in project contracting; that removed the unfounded belief of local contractors that local officials were somehow involved in corruption related to the process. ¶8. (C) Comment: It is too early to tell whether this series of conferences will improve the murky provincial contracting process. By ensuring that local contractors understand the process and the steps needed for certification, the PRT hopes to take away at least one excuse provincial insiders have for not awarding contracts to local contractors. Our local contacts believe that local contractors would have more BAGHDAD 00001969 002 OF 002 accountability for their work and that projects would be completed more quickly if local contractors were awarded contracts in the cities from where they hail. Improving basic services remains an uphill but critical battle in legitimizing local and provincial governments. The PRT continues to work to improve the timeliness and quality of capital budget projects in Salah ad Din and the transparency and fairness of the contract-award process. End Comment. CROCKER