Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BAGHDAD1969
2008-06-27 13:31:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

PRT SALAH AD DIN: LOCALS CHAFE AT PROVINCIAL

Tags:  PGOV PREL PTER PINS ECON KCRS IZ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5037
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #1969/01 1791331
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 271331Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8012
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
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).

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