Halliburton, a large energy services, engineering and construction firm, works for governments all over the world. A crucial factor in KBR's selection, members of the planning group said, was an existing Army contract it secured to provide logistical support around the world. It won that contract in a bidding process in December 2001. The Pentagon has cited that competition to deflect criticism about KBR's no-bid contract in Iraq.

In awarding the logistics contract, the Army acknowledged last year, it failed to consider that the company was under criminal investigation for a previous Pentagon contract, even though that inquiry was disclosed in Halliburton's annual report.

The absence of competition in the selection of KBR for Iraqi oil work was meant to be remedied shortly after the war ended. "Everyone realized the selection of KBR was going to look bad, so the idea was to compete it out as quickly as possible," said another task force member.

But those competitively bid contracts have yet to be awarded, and the amount of Halliburton's work in Iraq has grown steadily.