

Get ready to meet America's new mercenaries. They could be the same as the old ones.

A new multibillion-dollar private security contract to protect U.S. diplomats is "about to drop" as early as this week, say two State Department sources, who requested anonymity because the contract is not yet finalized and they are not authorized to speak with the press.

So much for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's one-time campaign pledge to ban "private mercenary firms."

Neither source would say which private security firms have won the four-year contract or how much it will ultimately be worth. The last Worldwide Protective Services contract, awarded in 2005, went to Blackwater, Triple Canopy and DynCorp. Rough estimates place that contract's value at $2.2 billion.

This one is likely to be even more lucrative. That's because this time, the reduction and forthcoming withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq is causing the State Department to splurge on private security.

A senior department official told the congressional Wartime Contracting Commission in June that the department requires "between 6,000 and 7,000 security contractors" in Iraq, up from its current 2,700 armed guards. And that doesn't even take into account those needed to guard the expanded U.S. civilian presence in Afghanistan.

Mo' mercs, mo' money. And mo' danger: This year, for the first time, U.S. contractor deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan exceeded troop deaths, ProPublica found.

But the mercs involved could be the same ones as last time. In a nod to open-government practices, State has pledged to pick six security companies to receive the Worldwide Protective Services contract, double the current three. But that doesn't mean the firms who won the last time around can't potentially re-up – including Blackwater.

The deadline to award the contract is Thursday, Sept. 30, but it's unclear whether the department will meet its long-announced goal. State is finalizing the contract right now, so if it doesn't drop Thursday – the last day of the fiscal year – it'll be soon afterward.

A State Department official confirmed in April that "any company, including Xe Services [another name for Blackwater] and its subsidiary companies, [may] submit a proposal in response to an acquisition process established on the basis of full and open competition."

Despite the slayings of civilians at Nisour Square in Iraq in 2007 – which got Blackwater de-certified by the Iraqi government – and on the road in Kabul in 2009, no federal acquisition official has ever recommended that Blackwater be barred from bidding on government contracts. That means it would violate federal law to prevent Blackwater from entering a bid.

A company spokeswoman told me last year that Blackwater intended to bid on the next round of Worldwide Protective Services, although it does not show up on the contract solicitation's list of current vendors under any of its myriad business names.

And while the contract may almost be in place, its oversight won't. Last week, the contracting commission's co-chairman told a House panel that even if the State Department can afford its merc surge in Iraq, "it is not clear that it has the trained personnel to manage and oversee contract performance of a kind that has already shown the potential for creating tragic incidents and frayed relations with host countries."

In other words, expect more wasted money – and the possibility of more Nisour Squares.

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