Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse exposed a $7 billion no-bid Defense Department Contract

As the Iraq War raged in 2003, the Army Corps faced pressure to award lucrative reconstruction contracts quickly.

However, their proposed solution – massive no-bid contracts for Halliburton, the former employer of Vice President Dick Cheney – violated Pentagon regulations designed to prevent favoritism and ensure competition.

Greenhouse, a staunch defender of fair practices, refused to turn a blind eye. She protested in writing, citing regulations that protected taxpayer dollars from such abuses. When Army officials bypassed her authority and steered contracts to Halliburton’s subsidiary KBR anyway, she became a whistleblower.

Her courage sparked investigations. Greenhouse’s information proved invaluable to the FBI’s probe into KBR and the Defense Department. Senator Byron Dorgan highlighted the importance of her case in congressional hearings. One specific contract Greenhouse challenged involved Iraqi oil repairs for Halliburton subsidiary KBR. Initially a non-competitive, multi-year deal worth $7 billion over five years, it faced public scrutiny after her objections. The government ultimately reduced it to a one-year term with a competitive bidding process, as Greenhouse had advocated.

Greenhouse’s accusations also extended to potential legal violations. She reported instances where Halliburton representatives participated in contract discussions, which was prohibited. These revelations offered a glimpse into the internal conflicts surrounding these contracts. After a lengthy legal battle, Greenhouse’s whistleblower case was settled. The Army Corps compensated her for damages and attorney fees. More importantly, her actions led to significant reforms prohibiting no-bid contracts, ensuring a fairer and more transparent contracting process.

Our firm, determined to protect whistleblowers, had developed legal strategies to bypass the politically appointed Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and have federal employee whistleblower cases heard by juries in federal court. This innovative approach, established through two major court precedents (Bonds v. HHS and Ikossi v. Navy), proved crucial for Bunny’s case. It allowed her to file her lawsuit directly in U.S. district court, ensuring a jury trial for both her whistleblower retaliation claim and discrimination complaint.

Bunny Greenhouse’s case became a national sensation. A 2008 book by the producers of PBS’s respected show “NOW” hailed her as one of America’s leading whistleblowers, someone who believed “good government requires transparency, and corruption is deterred by accountability.”

In addition to being featured in CBS show Whistleblower, her story was covered by major outlets like Democracy Now, Washington Post, NBC Nightly News, Time, CBS News, MSNBC, New York Times, and USA Today.

Bunny even appeared on C-SPAN Close-Up with her lawyers from Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto to discuss her whistleblowing and the importance of protecting courageous employees who risk their careers for the public good.

Before her case settled, Ms. Greenhouse testified about her experience as a whistleblower, stressing the importance of protecting whistleblowers, and ultimately protecting the American people against fraud.

My name is Bunnatine Greenhouse. I thank the Committee for allowing me to appear here today. As you may be aware, I was the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ Procurement Executive and Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting (PARC). I am the first black female to have held a Senior Executive Service position within the Army Corps of Engineers. A career spanning over 23 years ended on August 27, 2005, when I was removed from the Senior Executive Service and from contracting. I was removed after I raised concerns over the award of a $7 billion sole source, no compete, cost plus contract to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (“KBR”) known as the Restore Iraqi Oil (RIO) contract. The award of this contract and other contracts related to the RIO contract represent the worst contract abuse I witnessed during my professional career.

Before the contract was awarded, I voiced great concern over the legality of the selection of KBR, the total lack of competition and the excessive duration of the RIO contract. I explained to representatives from the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army and the Army Corps that granting a contract for two base years with the potential to extend the contract for an additional three years was simply unconscionable under the compelling emergency justification that was identified as the basis for awarding the contract to KBR. All of my objections were ignored and so in February 2003 I chose to pen next to my signature on a critical contracting document my concern over the duration of the contract that was going to be awarded to Halliburton/KBR.

In October of 2004 I received notice that I was to be demoted and removed from the SES. At that juncture the concerns I had over the award of the RIO contract and other contract abuses related to Halliburton/KBR were brought to the attention of members of Congress and the public.

In June of 2005 I was asked to appear before this Committee, and I agreed to do so. Just prior to my appearance, the Army Corps’ Acting General Counsel let me know in no uncertain terms that it would not be in my best interest to do so. I ignored this threat to my professional career and swiftly thereafter I was removed from the SES and from contracting.

Things have not fared well for me since then.

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On the contracting side, I had long been acknowledged as the most knowledgeable and critical thinking contracting professional within the Army Corps, yet there was no role for me to play in response to Katrina.

On the civil works side, I am a Defense Systems Management College certified program manager, with a master’s degree in engineering management from George Washington University, and a War College master’s degree in national resources strategy, a master’s degree in Business Management and a graduate of the Defense Senior Acquisition Course, yet there was no role for me to play in the face of the Katrina disaster.

Instead, I was systematically excluded from the Katrina management meetings that were held in my office area, behind closed doors.

I was born and raised in Louisiana and am a member of the Louisiana Hall of Fame for Women in Government, and I can assure you that it pained me greatly that I was not permitted to assist with the Katrina disaster.

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Since my demotion I have experienced isolation; I continue to receive inappropriately down-graded performance reviews; my top secret clearance has been withdrawn; individuals have attempted to take credit for my work, no training opportunities have been identified since I have no Engineering and Construction mission responsibilities, and I have been prevented from returning to my contracting career field.

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Finally, it is paramount for this Committee to recognize that my removal has caused a deep chill to descend over the government contracting community and the SES Corps. Contracting officers now know that speaking up against contracting abuses will not bring them praise but can cost them their jobs.