The U.S. Army Contracting Agency (ACA) has awarded a $1 million contract to an Amarillo, Texas man to assist the Colombia Marine Corps in conducting waterway-based counternarcotics missions. Steven Berger, operator of Products & Services of the Americas, will provide strategic- and tactical-operations training to Colombian forces under the contract.
In an apparent move to keep a low-profile on the award, ACA buried the contract notice in the FedBizOpps database-archives on Monday, April 10 -- the same day it had posted the legally required notice for the first time.
Earlier this year the U.S. government launched a search to fill this new "Riverine Plans Officer" position. Soon after it was revealed that the U.S. military intended to secure the deal with Products & Services of the Americas, which at the time it only identified as an Amarillo-based entity. Narco News Bulletin Managing Editor Dan Feder then discovered that the "company" was a sole-proprietorship owned by Berger, who granted Feder an interview (see U.S. Elevates River-Combat Role in Colombian 'Counter Narco-Terrorist' Ops, The Narcosphere, March 15).
Berger in this role will serve as the primary advisor responsible for overseeing these operations, while also training Colombian soldiers on human rights issues and the Geneva Convention. He'll also serve as U.S. Southern Command liaison to other U.S., multinational, and Colombian defense and law enforcement agencies.
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