Whitefish contract cancelled

Whitefish Energy Holdings says it is “very disappointed” that authorities in Puerto Rico have canceled its $300 million contract to help rebuild the U.S. island’s electricity system.

  TPM

How did PR authorities cancel a contract unless they were a party to it? And if they were a party to it, why didn't they realize how bad a contract it was? And, do they have a replacement?

While government officials in Washington and San Juan have argued over how a company from Whitefish, Mont., with connections to the secretary of the interior but only two full-time employees secured an emergency contract that requires the work of thousands of people, the majority of Puerto Rico is still without electricity, nearly six weeks after Hurricane Maria knocked down thousands of poles and lines.

[...]

Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló announced on Sunday that he had asked the power authority’s board — which he appoints — to cancel the contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings, two days after FEMA issued a strongly worded statement criticizing the deal. FEMA said it had “significant concerns” and warned that it might refuse to cover the costs of the contract if it was found to be improper.

  NYT

Sounds to me like the governor might have been "colluding" with Secretary Zinke and his friends at Whitefish ... kickbacks, anyone?

Mr. Rosselló said he had asked for a federal investigation of the contract award process, and for the power authority to appoint a trustee to review contract bidding. He stressed that no wrongdoing had been discovered, but he said that the contract had become a “distraction” and that attention had to be refocused on restoring service.

Yeah, right.

“I am making this determination because it is in the best interest of the people of Puerto Rico,” Mr. Rosselló said at a news conference.

He misspelled "got caught". And it doesn't look like it was Rosselló alone.

The chief executive of the power authority, Ricardo Ramos, defended the contract, which he awarded.

Appears the people of Puerto Rico have some governmental house-cleaning to take care of when elections roll around.

Mr. Ramos said Whitefish had recently requested security protection because people had started throwing rocks and bottles at the company’s crews on the island, in the belief that the contract had been awarded corruptly.

[...]

He said the power authority had already paid Whitefish or been billed about $20.8 million for work done so far, and would have to reimburse the company for the cost of returning helicopters, trucks and other equipment from Puerto Rico to the United States. He said that work that was already in progress would be completed by Whitefish.

So, not a total loss to the crooks.

Mr. Ramos said he would send a letter to the electric company board asking for a resolution formally ending the contract, and that the board would meet Monday or Tuesday to address the matter. The cancellation would take effect 30 days after a resolution is adopted.

Meanwhile, the people are left without electricity. Mr. Ramos and Governor Rosselló will, of course, have generators if needed, but I'm sure theirs were among the very first homes to get electricity restored.

Of course the US Army Corps of Engineers is on the island, apparently not in great enough numbers. Aren't there any out-of-work electricians in the US to bring on board? Oh, wait. The US government would have to pay them.