Trump White House Hands Out No-Bid Contracts For Pandemic Aid
Source: Crooks and Liars
4/14/20 4:59am
Trump White House Hands Out No-Bid Contracts For Pandemic Aid
Of course they do. It's Dick Cheney all over again.
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In an unusual move, even in times of disaster, the White House stepped into the federal purchasing process, ordering the Federal Emergency Management Agency to award a contract to AirBoss of America. The Trump administration has rushed through hundreds of deals to address the pandemic without the usual oversight, more than $760 million reported as of this week, but the AirBoss transaction is the single largest no-bid purchase, a ProPublica analysis of federal purchasing data found.
While FEMA placed the order, it was directed to do so by the White House, ProPublica found.
It is unclear why the White House chose AirBoss for the protective equipment, which is similar to products made by other vendors.
“I can’t think of an example of the White House sending FEMA a directive to procure items from a particular company in a particular manner,” said Tim Manning, a former FEMA deputy administrator during the Obama administration.
The March 31 FEMA contract called for the company to produce 100,000 powered respirators and filters for medical workers treating patients in New York — a critical need that the Trump administration has been slow to address. The contract calls for them to be delivered to New York by July 31, five months after the state’s first reported case.
A little more than a week after a White House official publicly praised the deal, AirBoss’ stock price has more than doubled on the Toronto exchange.
A rubber manufacturer that sells to the auto industry and militaries, AirBoss targeted growth in U.S. federal contracts when it formed a new subsidiary, AirBoss Defense Group in Maryland, in January. The new entity absorbed AirBoss’ existing Maryland-based company, Immediate Response Technologies, that has contracted with the Pentagon for years. The FEMA contract was awarded to Immediate Response................................................
Read more: https://crooksandliars.com/2020/04/trump-white-house-hands-out-no-bid
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SOOOO fucking tiring!! 
