Trump Failed Americans on Coronavirus by Giving Billions to Inexperienced Contractors

Trump’s administration gave billions of dollars in coronavirus response contracts to inexperienced and fraudulent companies that failed to deliver — and now he is looking to do it all over again.

Trump’s administration is relying on two companies with insufficient track records to supply syringes for hundreds of millions of vital vaccine doses.

Los Angeles Times: “As the Trump administration races to buy hundreds of millions of syringes for what is likely to be an unprecedented COVID-19 immunization campaign, success depends heavily on two small medical supply companies with little track record of fulfilling government orders of that magnitude.”

Trump’s administration delivered far less food than promised through a program meant to help hungry Americans after hiring inexperienced companies.

Reuters: “The U.S. government delivered far less food aid than it had pledged by the end of June, according to food bank managers and data from the agriculture department sent to Reuters, after it hired inexperienced companies to box food during the pandemic.”

Reuters: “Deliveries were slow to start and have amounted to less than promised as some of the companies involved had never worked with food banks or even wholesale food distribution… With vendors falling short on deliveries, food banks have reassigned employees to manage the program and volunteered their own trucks to get the food into the hands of those who need it.”

Trump’s administration awarded hundreds of millions of dollars for vital medical supplies to companies with histories of fraud.

USA Today: “Hundreds of millions of dollars in sole-sourced, non-competitive awards went to vendors that have been accused of defrauding taxpayers through the False Claims Act, which allows whistleblowers to bring fraud lawsuits on behalf of the U.S. government.”

Trump’s administration awarded billions in contracts to inexperienced medical supply companies, some with ties to the White House.

ProPublica: “A Company Run by a White House ‘Volunteer’ With No Experience in Medical Supplies Got $2.4 Million From the Feds for Medical Supplies”

ProPublica: “They are among about 345 first-time federal contractors promised at least $1.8 billion in deals by the Trump administration since March … many of the new contractors have no experience acquiring medical products.”

National Public Radio: “Some of the companies, such as Baul’s, had little or no experience with personal protective equipment. Others had never worked in the medical field at all. Contractors also included a company that imported vodka and a school security consultant.”

Wall Street Journal: “The federal government, scrambling to find N95 masks to protect health-care workers from coronavirus infection, has placed more than $110 million in mask orders at high prices with unproven vendors.”

Those companies are already failing to deliver.

ProPublica: “The Feds Gave a Former White House Official $3 Million to Supply Masks to Navajo Hospitals. Some May Not Work.”

National Public Radio: “Another company that didn’t deliver on time is Medea Inc., a California-based firm whose ventures have included importing vodka. The company has no experience in personal protective equipment, but got a $48.8 million contract that was ‘not competed’ from FEMA in May to supply KN95 respirator masks. The deadline for Medea to deliver the personal protective equipment was June 1, but the company missed that date.”

Washington Post: “A little-known Virginia-based defense company that was awarded a $55 million federal contract to provide 10 million N95 masks for the U.S. government’s coronavirus response failed to deliver and had its contract canceled Tuesday, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Panthera Worldwide LLC, whose parent company filed for bankruptcy protection last year, had promised to deliver the much-needed personal protective equipment by May 1, despite having no history of providing such materials to the government.”