Pentagon awards Bahrain's BMMI $2.8 bln contract

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bahrain Maritime and Mercantile International (BMMI) won a maximum $2.8 billion contract to supply food and other products to U.S. troops in three Middle Eastern countries, the Pentagon said on Monday.

BMMI will supply and distribute food to the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia through March 2009, the Defense Department said in its daily list of defense contracts.

The Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia chose BMMI after receiving a total of five responses to a notice seeking bids, the Pentagon said.

BMMI, based in Bahrain, is a wholesaler and retailer of packaged food, toiletries, beverages, cosmetics, tobacco and household products.

(Reporting by Julie Vorman)