Maine firms vie for Iraq contracts Linguists, engineers join rebuilding

PORTLAND – The reconstruction of Iraq represents a perilous but enticing business opportunity for a handful of Maine companies hoping to land government contracts.

The firms specialize in diverse fields, from linguistics to architectural engineering, and their motivations include financial gain, social consciousness and support for U.S. military action.

For now at least, the companies are willing to brave the prospect of intense heat, security risks and daunting infrastructure needs in Iraq.

Worldwide Language Resources Inc. of Rumford is among the first Maine firms to find work in postwar Iraq.

It now has more than 50 interpreters living with the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq and hopes to increase that number over time, said owner Larry Costa.

Costa said his employees in Iraq are living in heat of 120 to 130 degrees most days.

“Utterly miserable, dismal conditions. That’s the only description of what my guys are living in right now,” Costa said. “There’s no way around it.”

Security is another big issue, of course. But Costa sees a key role for his company and expects to have employees in Iraq for at least two years.

Costa, who served in Army Special Forces from 1980 to 1992, sees his company’s work in Iraq as supporting a military mission.

“I’m doing, in part, what the military trained me to do, and I’m helping them accomplish their mission,” Costa said. “I can understand when they need X, Y and Z. Missions hinge on interpreters being there.”

In South Portland, a company that designs and builds power plants and an architectural engineering firm are both trying to secure contracts for work in Iraq.

AEP Proserv, a subsidiary of American Electric Power that employs 70 people in Maine, hopes to design power plants and high-voltage transmission and distribution systems, according to Rick Kelley, a business development manager.

The company has had conversations with Bechtel, which received an initial $680 million contract from the U.S. government, about bidding on any power infrastructure projects in Iraq, Kelley said.

Competition is fierce just to get permission to bid for subcontracts, much less obtain them, he said.

AEP Proserv is planning to bid on projects with Oest Associates, an architectural engineering firm in South Portland that employs 50 people.

Oest, which designs and manages everything from airports to sewers and water systems, also plans to bid for separate infrastructure work, said project manager Calen Colby.

Officials at both South Portland firms said they’re motivated to work in Iraq by a sense of social consciousness.

“Helping the Iraqis, quite frankly, is a socially responsible thing to do,” Kelley said.

Colby added, “I think there’s a fundamental need that most of us have inside in improving the quality of life for people whose quality of life isn’t all that good.”