Lincoln Group, a Washington, D.C.-based PR firm, has won a competitive review to handle PR and strategic communications for the U.S.-led military force in Iraq.

The two-year contract with the Multi-National Force-Iraq is valued at more than $6M per year, although contracting documents indicated that additional efforts could be "ordered" from the Pennsylvania Avenue firm for up to $20M.

Contracting officials in Baghdad told O'Dwyer's that The Rendon Group had previously handled the work covered in the new pact. That firm declined to comment on whether it would pitch for the account.

A request for proposals with a quick, two-week turnaround time was issued in September. That document cited the emboldened insurgency bent on civil war as a key obstacle to the U.S. force's military and communications mission in Iraq.

Among the tasks outlined for the Lincoln Group, the military wants the firm to put together a unit of 12-18 communicators to support military PR efforts in Iraq and throughout the Middle East from media training to pitching stories and providing content for government-backed news sites.

Lincoln was criticized late last year for allegedly paying to plant stories in the Iraqi media, sparking a crisis for the firm and the PR industry as a whole. The firm has said it needed to do a better job of explaining its work and brought in a veteran PR executive last year to help with those efforts.

The RFP for the new contract has come under fire on Capitol Hill. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced an amendment earlier this month to torpedo the planned PR blitz.