subgenius wrote:A billion to PR? for what exactly? You made such a noise when one of the few qualified businesses got a contract to help and therefore tweeted the solution into being a problem.
You mean those Whitefish guys?
Whitefish’s contract expired Thursday after accusations of overcharging contributed to the resignation of the power company director.
One of the few qualified businesses that existed? A company that had two employees at the time that the hurricane hit the island?
Lol.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitefish_EnergyThe awarding of the contract was unusual in several respects. The contract stipulated that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved its terms, but FEMA categorically denied any involvement with the contract. Moreover, when questioned about the stipulation, PREPA executive director Ricardo Ramos said that, "There [was] no other explanation for that other than an 'oops.'" Furthermore, FEMA expressed that it had "significant concerns over how PREPA procured this contract" and that the agency had not confirmed "whether the contract prices [were] reasonable" because the contract was given without the competitive bidding process typically associated with federal contracts. The no bidding contracting, however, was performed lawfully under Puerto Rican law, as Puerto Rico governor Ricardo Rossello had proclaimed an executive order beforehand that left without effect all the processes established by law or by regulation to contract private entities, using as an argument for its decree a previously lawfully declared state of emergency.
Another point of contention regarding the contract was its wording. Specifically, a clause in the contract prevents the government from auditing or reviewing its labor cost and profit elements. According to NPR, such elements would likely be the core interest of any auditor.
A third reason for labeling the contract as unusual was that PREPA chose Whitefish rather than using their mutual aid agreements with mainland utilities. But Ramos explained that Whitefish did not require a $25 million tender as the other bidder did. PREPA’s emergency fund had only $100 million, which Ramos feared would be quickly exhausted if he hired another public utility to assist with repairs. Furthermore, PREPA's mutual aid agreements required the utility company to undertake the logistics of housing workers and transporting materials to the island, while Whitefish's contract did not.
When asked to comment, the American Public Power Association (APPA) said that PREPA didn't respond to mutual aid offers[failed verification] and that the utility company "had already contracted with Whitefish Energy by the time [APPA] convened a conference call to coordinate aid."
Whitefish's size also drew attention. Before being awarded PREPA's contract, Whitefish's largest contract was a $1.3 million electrical upgrade in Arizona. In addition, Whitefish, as a holding company, only had two employees when the hurricane struck. Moreover, their primary investor, HBC Investments, was founded by Joe Colonnetta, a "prominent donor" of incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign. Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski and United States Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke also know each other, as both hail from Whitefish, Montana. Techmanski also admitted that he had been in touch with Zinke in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria to try to free up more resources since getting crews and equipment to Puerto Rico had been difficult. Additionally, one of Zinke's son also worked at one of Techmanski's construction sites in the past. Well-known Fortune 500 global engineering firm Fluor Corporation also received a rebuild contract; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract was for $240M, $60M less than tiny Whitefish's contract.
I'm not thinking that Kevin Graham and Twitter were Whitefish's biggest problems.
