British firm wins contract to help with post-war rebuilding of Iraq

Crown agents, a privatised development assistance firm, has become the first British company to win a contract in the American programme to rebuild Iraq.

It will be a subcontractor to International Resources Group (IRG), a US professional services firm providing technical assistance for planning and management of the reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in Iraq. Crown Agents will provide services to the US Agency for International Development (USaid), which is leading US efforts to rebuild the country.

It will help with procurement, transport and warehouse management in support of the setting up of the USaid missions in Kuwait and, as the situation develops, in Iraq.

Andrew Natsios, USaid administrator, disclosed the UK role after being pressed over concerns that non-US firms had been shut out of the contracting process. "We are using British Crown Agents to do our purchasing in the Gulf, so there's a British company already working for us that was not part of that particular bid," he said. "So it is open."

He said that more than half of the reconstruction work would be through subcontracts, open to "any country anywhere in the world that can competently do the work and bids on it".

USaid is expected to award the largest of the eight prime contracts – a $900m (£575m) deal for the restoration of civilian infrastructure – this week. Industry sources said it could be split between Bechtel and Fluor Daniel. Amec, Costain, Balfour Beatty and Thames Water also hope to be subcontractors.

A spokesman for Crown Agents said: "We are currently working in Kuwait City as part of the initial phase of the programme of emergency relief and reconstruction efforts for Iraq funded by USaid." Crown Agents has worked on emergency relief operations in Bosnia, Sierra Leone, India, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

The company was established in 1833 to procure goods for the British colonies.