UK firms feast eyes on Iraq subcontracts
British firms meet today to compete for lucrative contracts involved in the reconstruction of Iraq.
At a seminar at the Hotel Novotel in Hammersmith, around 250 companies interested in acquiring subcontracts for the rebuilding process will be met by the officials from the US Embassy and US construction company Bechtel, awarded a £425m pound contract by the American Agency for International Development, as the key contractor to rebuild Iraq’s pulverised infrastructure.
British firms pencilled in to attend include Costain, Marconi, Balfour Beatty, Foster Wheeler and Black and Beatch.
Also today, Trade partners UK, a collaborative entity formed up by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign Office, is holding a ‘workshop’ in central London to advise British businessmen on how best to secure the coveted contracts.
Bechtel held a conference to set out the tendering process in Washington on Wednesday and after the London meeting today will make preparations for a seminar in Kuwait on 28 May.
Colin Adams chief executive of the British Consultants and Construction Bureau has said British firms are well placed to gain some of the sub-contracts
‘There are a number of UK firms who are right in the middle of negotiating with the United States prime contractors.’
‘There is a very positive atmosphere indeed on the part of the people in the US.
‘UK firms are quite clear that the US is going to have prime contractorship but there is a recognition in many areas, from oil and gas to infrastructure, of British firms.’
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