Parsons Corporation
The Parsons Corporation, a Pasadena, California-based engineering and construction firm founded in 1944, had revenues exceeding $3.6 billion in 2007 according to its website. The corporation's stock is primarily held by the Employee Stock Ownership Trust Plan (ESOP). Shareholders in ESOP include both employees and former employees.
"Among its many projects, Parsons has designed power plants; built dams, resorts, and shopping centers; and provided environmental services such as the cleanup of hazardous nuclear wastes. Parsons has also added improvements to airports and rail systems, bridges, and highways. Customers of the employee-owned company include government agencies and private industries." [1]
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Parsons Project Iraq
"Parsons is supporting the reconstruction efforts in Iraq with a broad range of contracts and task orders."
On January 16, 2004, Parsons announced that it had been awarded "a contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for future work restoring the Iraq oil infrastructure to pre-war production levels. The contract was awarded to Parsons Iraqi Joint Venture, which includes Parsons E&C Corporation, based in Houston, Texas, and Parsons Corporation, based in Pasadena, California. The Worley Group of Australia is a teamed subcontractor. The task order contract covers a full range of services to restore the oil production in the northern portion of Iraq with a maximum value of $800 million." (See Parsons Project Iraq: "Restore Iraq Oil (RIO) North Project".)
On April 3, 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers informed that Parsons' "reconstruction contract for the building of 142 primary health centers across Iraq is running out of money, after two years and roughly $200 million, with no more than 20 clinics now expected to be completed," Ellen Knickmeyer reported in the Washington Post. (See Parsons Project Iraq: "Buildings, Education, and Health Sector".)
"The contract, [which was] awarded to U.S. construction giant Parsons Inc. in the flush, early days of reconstruction in Iraq, was expected to lay the foundation of a modern health care system for the country, putting quality medical care within reach of all Iraqis," Knickmeyer wrote. "Parsons, according to the Corps, will walk away from more than 120 clinics that on average are two-thirds finished. Auditors say the project serves as a warning for other U.S. reconstruction efforts due to be completed this year."
Contracts Update: June 2006
The Army Corps of Engineers announced June 19, 2006, "that it had canceled a $99.1 million contract with Parsons, one of the largest companies working in Iraq, to build a prison north of Baghdad after the firm fell more than two years behind schedule, threatened to go millions of dollars over budget and essentially abandoned the construction site," James Glanz, reported June 20, 2006, in the New York Times.
"The move is another harsh rebuke for Parsons, only weeks after the corps canceled more than $300 million of the company's contracts to build and refurbish hospitals and clinics across Iraq. A federal oversight office had found that some of the clinics were little more than empty shells and that only 20 of 150 called for in the contract would be completed without new financing," Glanz wrote.
Maj. Gen. William H. McCoy Jr., commander of the corps' Gulf Region Division, said that the "loss of business for Parsons in Iraq may not be over [as] a broad review of Parsons' work in Iraq had turned up problems in sector after sector. According to news releases on the Parsons Web site, the company has received contracts worth as much as $4 billion in Iraq ... for building and refurbishing scores of police stations, border forts, fire stations, courthouses, prisons and Iraqi government buildings. 'We found overruns in almost every case,' General McCoy said.
"Corps officials also said that they had asked the company to explain delays and overruns on another prison project, south of Nasiriya, for which it has an $82.7 million contract," Glanz wrote.
A "pair of scathing reports" on "the $243 million program to build 150 clinics" showed that Parsons "would complete only 20 unless new financing were found. ... In some cases, the reports found, the clinics were little more than empty shells of uneven bricks and concrete that were already crumbling into dust. But those reports focused much of their criticism on what they called the failure of the corps to exercise proper oversight of the work.
"Shortly after those reports were issued, General McCoy canceled the clinics contract, and shortly thereafter voided a $70 million Parsons project to refurbish 20 hospitals in Iraq." McCoy said that "he had found $62 million in his budget to finish the remaining clinics by letting construction contracts directly to Iraqi companies," Glanz wrote.
Markets
- Airports
- Bridges & Tunnels
- Commercial & Industrial
- Communications
- Critical Facilities
- Data Management & Vehicle Inspection
- Demilitarization & Reconstruction
- Education & Healthcare
- Energy & Nuclear
- Environmental
- Fabrication
- Life Sciences
- Planning
- Rail & Transit
- Roads & Highways
- Security & Communications Systems
- Transportation Systems Engineering
- Water & Infrastructure
Key People
- James F. McNulty, Chairman
- John A. Scott, President and COO
- Charles L. (Chuck) Harrington, Chief Executive Officer
Board of Directors
- James F. McNulty, Chairman since 1998
- C. Michael Armstrong
- Curtis A. Bower
- Molly Corbett Broad
- Charles L. Harrington
- Mark K. Holdsworth
- Lawrence V. Jackson
- William L. Kimsey
- James S. Marlen
- James F. McGovern
- Admiral R.J. Zlatoper, USN (ret)
- Director Profiles.
Elaine Chao was on the board until her appointment as Secretary of Labor in 2001.
Campaign Contributions
- Federal Election Commission (FEC) Disclosure Report: Parsons Corporation Political Action Committee.
- Parsons Corp, FEC Watch, Open Secrets.
- Leadership Institute 2004 PAC Study: Parsons Corporation Parsons Corporation Political Action Committee.
Contact Information
100 W. Walnut Street
Pasadena, CA 91124
Phone: 626 440-2000
Fax: 626 440-2630
Website: http://www.parsons.com/
Links for Locations:
Related SourceWatch Resources
External links
- "Iraq: Parsons Corp. Wins $900 Million Contract," Reuters (CorpWatch), March 30, 2004.
- Andrea Shalal-Esa, "Interview: U.S. must do more to help Iraqis rebuild-auditor," Reuters AlertNet, March 28, 2006.
- Ellen Knickmeyer, "U.S. Plan to Build Iraq Clinics Falters. Contractor Will Try to Finish 20 of 142 Sites," Washington Post, April 3, 2006.
- James Glanz, "Army Cancels Contract for Iraqi Prison," New York Times (CorpWatch.org), June 20, 2006.
- Griff Witte, "The Builder Who Bombed in Iraq. Battered Over Failed Projects, Parsons's CEO Fires Back at Government Critics," Washington Post, December 22, 2006.
