Puerto Rico left high, not dry
After winning bid, company fails to deliver supplies
WASHINGTON — After Hurricane Maria damaged tens of thousands of homes in Puerto Rico, a newly created Florida company with an unproven record won more than $30 million in contracts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide emergency tarps and plastic sheeting for repairs.
Bronze Star LLC never delivered those supplies, which even months later remain in demand the island’s hurricane victims.
FEMA eventually terminated the contracts, without paying any money, and restarted the process this month to supply more tarps. The earlier effort took nearly four weeks from the day FEMA awarded the contracts to Bronze Star and the day it canceled them.
Thousands of Puerto Ricans remain homeless, and many complain that the federal government is taking too long to install tarps. The U.S. territory has been hit by severe rainstorms in recent weeks that have caused widespread flooding.
It is not clear how thoroughly FEMA investigated Bronze Star or its ability to fulfill the contracts. Formed by two brothers in August, Bronze Star had never before won a government contract. The address listing for the business is a single-family home in St. Cloud, Florida.
One of the brothers, Kayon Jones, said manufacturers he contacted before bidding on the contracts assured him they could provide the tarps but later said they could not meet the government’s requirements.
Jones said supplying the materials was problematic because most of the raw materials came out of Houston, which was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey. He said he sought a waiver from FEMA to allow him to order tarps from a Chinese manufacturer and for more time, but FEMA denied the request.
“We were trying to help; it wasn’t about making money or anything like that,” Jones said.
FEMA spokesman Ron Roth said the review process was “somewhat expedited” after Hurricane Maria to respond as quickly as possible to the emergency. But he said the agency did perform due diligence.
“Submissions from potential contractors are objectively evaluated, and a contract is awarded based on the highest-rated submission,” Roth said.
Nine bids were received on the first contract for plastic sheeting and eight bids on the second contract for tarps. Roth said Star was determined to be the most qualified.
“FEMA’S initial technical evaluation determined Bronze Star could do the jobs based on their proposals, which confirmed that they could meet the product specifications and delivery dates,” he said.