It's interesting to read about Accenture and the award of the "Virtual
Border" contract from the Department of Homeland Security.
This
Reuters article, like a recent
NY Times
article on the same topic, talks about the attempts by the House
of Representatives to prevent Accenture receiving the contract, since
Accenture's corporate headquarters is not in the US -- it is in
Bermuda.
What's unfortunate about these articles is how obliquely they talk
about the reason Accenture is based in Bermuda. According to Perfectly Legal by David Cay Johnston, the
sole point of this is to reduce the corporate taxes Accenture pays -- they
are essentially shopping for a nation with laws most favorable to
their incorporation. In a chapter entitled "Profits Trump
Patriotism," Johnston talks about exactly this conflict between
national security and awarding government contracts to quasi-foreign
corporations -- including Accenture. It's too bad the explanation of
this issue isn't more clear in the articles covering it -- especially
since Johnston is a Times reporter.
I do think this is an interesting and important issue, and I'm glad
to see the House taking some action on it.
Update: The article
in Thursday's Times has a somewhat better explanation of the issue.