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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Contractor awarded $156 million to provide 30 million meals to Puerto Rico only delivered 50,000
2018-02-06
[The Hill] A contractor who was awarded a massive contract to provide millions of meals to Puerto Ricans affected by Hurricane Maria drastically underdelivered, according to a New York Times investigation.

Tiffany Brown, an Atlanta entrepreneur and self-described government contractor who owns Tribute Contracting LLC, was awarded the $156 million contract by FEMA on Oct. 3 to provide 30 million self-heating meals to Puerto Rico, but only followed through on 50,000.

Brown, the sole employee of her company, hired an 11-person wedding catering company and a Texas nonprofit that had shipped food to a Houston food bank during Hurricane Harvey to provide the meals.

But Brown’s contract was terminated by email on Oct. 19, after Brown failed to meet a deadline of providing the first 18.5 million meals. She had only delivered 50,000, according to the Times.

Carolyn Ward, a FEMA official who handled the contract with Brown’s company, wrote in an email to Brown, seen by the Times, that the operation was "a logistical nightmare."

Related: NYT - Rations shortage story.
Posted by:Besoeker

#19  "Juuuust a little short"
Posted by: Frank G   2018-02-06 21:09  

#18  Works out to supposed to cost 4.45 per meal.

But it cost $2700 per meal done by a Wedding Catering Company. That sounds normal for a wedding catering company.
Posted by: Ulaigum Ebbineng7056   2018-02-06 20:37  

#17  
I'm still amazed that any government keeps awarding contracts on this basis - they're asking to get ripped off.


The goal isn't to deliver the goods and services, but to deliver the requisite quote of "minority-owned businesses". A sane system would have seen Ms. Brown blacklisted after the first failure, if not charged with fraud.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2018-02-06 19:15  

#16  I'm still amazed that any government keeps awarding contracts on this basis - they're asking to get ripped off.

It is other people's money.
Posted by: B. Poodle6475   2018-02-06 18:07  

#15  One would think that was the whole point of you doing the 'investigation', right?

Deep state. My theory was that a 3rd line manager pocketed the money and the search was on for a stuckee. The executive in charge of IT wasn't aware and wanted to know what had happened. My report gave the factual picture as well as my assessment that a project -- with no software architecture, no design, no code, no database architecture and no programmers worth the name on staff -- could not be salvaged a month after the original delivery date had passed using the already spent budget. My question about money finding its way back to people within the organization was to the deputy IT director who reviewed my report. The point was taken. That kind of thing is never put in writing.

My real job was keeping my client, a manager under said 3rd line from becoming the designated stuckee. I guess that I did OK as somebody else who had nothing at all to do with that project ended up taking the blame.
Posted by: B. Poodle6475   2018-02-06 17:57  

#14  This Island makes me ... angry.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-06 17:22  

#13  Someones picnic was missing a few sammiches.
Posted by: Unusosh Bucket1516   2018-02-06 14:58  

#12  Some 'investigations' are designed to simply whitewash.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2018-02-06 14:25  

#11  When I asked if any of those 4 million dollars wasted on that contract ever found their way back I was told never to ask that question again.

One would think that was the whole point of you doing the 'investigation', right?
Posted by: Raj   2018-02-06 13:30  

#10  Spin it off. PR can go its own way.
Posted by: Iblis   2018-02-06 13:26  

#9  Looks like an SBA minority contract.
Posted by: Alistaire Untervehr8459   2018-02-06 13:20  

#8  I worked for a pair of broads that were rewarded government auditing contracts based entirely on the reason they were broads (minority owned-type deal like this one). I resigned by e-mail the next day. I'm still amazed that any government keeps awarding contracts on this basis - they're asking to get ripped off.
Posted by: Raj   2018-02-06 13:20  

#7  I was once called in to investigate a project that had gone south. When I asked if any of those 4 million dollars wasted on that contract ever found their way back I was told never to ask that question again.
Posted by: B. Poodle6475   2018-02-06 12:57  

#6  This is at least the sixth government contract awarded to Tribute that has been canceled, according to the Times. Brown’s company has been awarded dozens of contracts, but has failed to deliver on several, including four that required her to deliver food products to correctional facilities in the Federal Prison System.

At the time the FEMA contract was awarded, the Government Publishing Office had a ban on awarding contracts of more than $35,000 to Tribute until January 2019 due to a mishandled project.

“It appears that the Trump administration’s response to the hurricanes in Puerto Rico in 2017 suffered from the same flaws as the Bush Administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005,” they wrote.

You don't think they (FEMA) awarded the contract to someone who has a very long history of non-performance deliberately did you?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2018-02-06 12:55  

#5  It doubt the contract award had anything to do with 'past performance.' Perhaps I should just leave it at that, and yes, that be Ms. Tiffany's photo. I could not find a photo of the Ms. Ward, the contracting officer.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-06 12:36  

#4  Gee, as a tech rep to a contracting officer I had to evaluate a company's history and capabilities before recommending. Doesn't anyone know how to play this game?
Posted by: Procopius2k   2018-02-06 12:34  

#3  Good work if you can get it.
Posted by: B. Poodle6475   2018-02-06 12:32  

#2  was awarded the $156 million contract by FEMA ... Brown, the sole employee of her company

???????????????????
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2018-02-06 12:30  

#1  I stopped reading when I got to Atlanta.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-02-06 12:25  

00:00