PREPA moves to cancel the $300 million Whitefish contract

On October 29, 2017, Associated Press reports that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority moves to cancel the $300 million emergency grid contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings. That is the primary source. Canceling a contract is not a finding that FEMA's billions were stolen. This note does not turn it into that. This 2017 contract is not hung on today's AAA.

On July 27, 2020, the DHS Office of Inspector General publishes OIG-20-57: PREPA's procurement complied; cost reasonableness may not have; Cobra oversight failed. That is a second version, three years later. No winner is chosen. They are not averaged. AP carries the cancellation. The OIG carries compliance and the cost doubt. This desk leaves both. The OIG PDF lives at another URL; the primary here is AP. The contract was an emergency grid job, $300 million. PREPA's cancellation is AP's fact. The 2020 OIG does not turn that cancellation into a finding that FEMA lost billions. Compliant procurement and a cost-reasonableness doubt sit side by side. This desk prints both figures and does not fuse them.

What remains is a $300 million contract moved toward cancellation and a 2020 OIG. A reader who wants AP's October 29 has the URL at the foot. This is not original reporting.

Source: Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/0de9d002a14a40908bfa24b57981414d