Contracts, Data and Investigations: COVID-19 – Edition 2020-05-08

Emergency procurement in Latin America, the role of private sector consultancies, the latest on ventilators, a wild ride through the U.S., and a Pulitzer Prize

This newsletter gathers stories covering the use and abuse of government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subscribe now to receive this newsletter regularly. And please send us your stories and content. We, Hera, Sophie and Georg, would love to hear about them.  

In a joint investigative project on the use of emergency procurement amid the pandemic, Red Palta, a group of data journalism organizations in Latin America has exposed growing corruption risks and cost overruns in a market marred by secrecy and a lack of competition. Check out some of the stories published under the hashtag #CoronaCompras from La Nación in Argentina, Datasketch in Colombia, Ojo con mi Pisto in Guatemala, Project PODER in Mexico, Ojo Público in Peru, and La Diaria in Uruguay. (The investigation is supported by us at the OCP).

A focus on food and water: What municipalities are buying in Guatemala under emergency procurement.

In the UK, the role of private sector consultancies hired to treat patients and build testing facilities is facing mounting scrutiny amid concerns over poor service quality and a lack of clarity about costs and other basic contract details, as Tabby Kinder reports in the Financial Times. The terms of a 234-million-pound contract to deliver school meals have also been called into question following reports of the service being “overwhelmed” due to poor planning, writes The Guardian’s Rob Davies. Meanwhile, critics have warned that core NHS health duties are being transferred to the private sector without appropriate scrutiny, Juliette Garside and Rupert Neate report. 

Turning to ventilators, an ambitious plan for British businesses to make thousands of the breathing devices has reportedly been plagued by problems, including shifting requirements. Rob Davies has the inside story on the so-called ventilator challenge, as we wait for the contract to be publicly disclosed.

Doctors warn that faulty ventilators purchased from China could do more harm than good, and thousands of gowns are being held in Turkey over quality concerns. If it wasn’t clear enough already, Peter Foster and Sarah Neville report on just how poor the planning for personal protective equipment really was, as government guidance for health workers repeatedly changed. And one rogue NHS procurement official took advantage of his market knowledge to start selling PPE privately, The Guardian’s Harry Davies and Simon Goodley reveal.

ProPublica’s David McSwane reports on a story from the American Wild West, where he tagged along with a contractor who frantically tried to deliver on a $34.5 million contract to supply masks and other medical supplies to the Veteran Affairs Department. With zero experience, he faced a black market filled with price gouging and multiple layers of profiteering brokers. In this case and others, governments have been left empty-handed as new suppliers hired with limited background checks failed to deliver and contracts had to be canceled, as in California and New York.

Behind the scandals, concerning signs of systemic problems seem to be emerging. Young volunteers with no disaster or medical experience were reportedly put at the forefront of PPE sourcing and told to add pals of the president to a VIP leads list, an investigation by The New York Times’ Nicholas Confessore, Andrew Jacobs, Jodi Kantor, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Luis Ferré-Sadurní found.

The risk of false negatives: In the latest of OCCRP’s cross-regional investigation, Aubrey Belford, Saska Cvetkovska, Cecilia Anesi, Gavin Bowring explored the murky market for antibody tests of questionable quality and certificates. 

And in Malaysia, authorities are investigating several companies directly appointed to provide medical equipment through contracts worth around MYR30 million (US$7 million).

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In non-pandemic contracting news, the Baltimore Sun’s reporting on former Mayor Pugh's role in selling her company’s Healthy Holly books to the state’s medical system won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, as the true scale of the conflict of interest became evident. Here is a great timeline of the scandal unfolding.

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For our recommendations, resources and tools, check our COVID-19 resource page. 

This newsletter has been put together by the Open Contracting Partnership. Comments? Suggestions? Got a story to share? Write to Hera, Sophie or Georg at media@open-contracting.org. Thanks for reading.

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