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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is sounding an alarm over Puerto Rico's $300 million contract with a small Montana company to restore power infrastructure, amid concerns over the firm's tiny staff and lack of competitive bidding. FEMA will be responsible for paying for the work by Whitefish Energy Holdings, but the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the island's utility, entered into the contract. "Based on initial review and information from PREPA, FEMA has significant concerns with how PREPA procured this contract and has not confirmed whether the contract prices are reasonable," FEMA said in its statement.
[...] The Whitefish deal has raised alarm among Puerto Rico's leadership, Congress and others, and two congressional committees are investigating it. The contract was reached with no bidding. The company had two employees and little experience in utility work prior to Hurricane Maria hitting the island and is paying workers hundreds of dollars per hour.
The White House said Friday the federal government had no involvement in the decision to award a $300 million contract to help restore Puerto Rico's power grid to a tiny Montana company in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's hometown.
Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president had asked Zinke about the contract and that the cabinet secretary said he had nothing to do with it. "He had no role in that contract," Sanders said of Zinke. "This was a state and local decision made by the Puerto Rican authorities and not the federal government."
Also at NPR.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday October 31 2017, @06:13PM (2 children)
Excuse me. You think two people with little appropriate experience could manage this? This was a disaster waiting to happen.
I don't believe the "we were not involved" statements, but even if they were to be accepted this would be an appallingly bad choice. And that it was no-bid is further evidence that it was a bit underhanded. The only valid reason I have ever encountered for a no-bid contract was when a modification was being requested to work previously done. (Not repair, modification.) In such case the prior contractor may well have site-specific knowledge. You can't make me believe that was the case here. I would be willing to listen to some other reason, but it would be difficult to convince me, as it goes against all prior personal observations.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 31 2017, @07:09PM (1 child)
I already said several times that the fix was in for them. We agree on that.
I believe they would do a good job because I know the area and its people well and have a high opinion of their work ethic and honesty. I further believe that "experience" with a disaster area like Puerto Rico regrettably does not mean what most people think it means. That is, the people at the relief agencies the public believes "know what they're doing," emphatically don't.
I've posted on SN many times about my first-hand experience with disaster relief efforts, so I won't rehash it here. Suffice it to say, I'll take competent technical people in a SHTF situation over a bureaucrat stamping his career passport at a relief agency any day.
Maybe the Army Corps of Engineers is a different story, but I can't say because I never worked with them. I'll let more knowledgeable folks weigh in on that.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday November 01 2017, @05:16AM
The Army Corps of Engineers is a mixed bag. Sometimes they do excellent work, and sometimes they do lousy work. I don't know what makes the difference.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.