Contractor Protests 'biased' Treatment At Hearing

Stephenson called the number of referrals "unprecedented" for a single military contract or program. But she declined to give details on those reports or name the sources of the alleged improprieties.

She also said her agency has conducted dozens of audits on the KBR contract and has challenged about $4.7 billion in costs charged by the company, she said.

Bodie said one commissioner — he doesn't provide a name — said the fraud referrals included "bribery and kickbacks and so forth." Bodie says there was no way for the commissioner to know this because Stephenson provided no specifics.

Bodie said "it is impossible for an observer to determine the gravity of any referral, the strength of the evidence behind it, or even whether any such investigation was or is active."

The commission is styled after the Truman Committee that examined World War II spending.

But the commission is a long way from matching the record of the Truman Committee, which held 432 hearings and issued 51 reports between 1941 and 1948, according to Bodie. By comparison, he said the commission has held two hearings and issued zero reports.