So apparently Bechtel is the recipient of the first contract to rebuild Iraq, starting at $680 million dollars over 18 months. Wait, that name is familiar…aren’t they the people in charge of this? Why yes, yes they are. This is the same company whose construction gaffes have cost taxpayers over $1 billion.

The Globe article, with a year of research, is scattered with such words as, “overrun,” “errors,” “failure,” “deficiencies,” and “serious flaws.” Sound encouraging?

On more than 3,200 occasions since 1991, the state paid extra money to contractors to compensate for design flaws, some big, some small.

For example, the drawings for the Ted Williams Tunnel left a 4-foot gap between tunnel sections, which was discovered by perplexed workers only after the massive tunnel tubes were eased into position, records show. The problem caused at least $307,000 in new work.