Contracts, Data and Investigations – Edition 2020-05-29
ProPublica’s Coronavirus Contracts database, emergency aid transparency, mysterious deals in Moldova and Ukraine, community-run crowdsourcing projects
This newsletter gathers stories covering the use and abuse of government contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Make sure to subscribe to get this newsletter to your inbox. Let us know about your stories and content. We, Hera, Sophie and Georg, would love to hear about them.
Search US$14 billion in U.S. COVID-19 contracts: ProPublica makes its contracts database publicly accessible and searchable. Developed by Moiz Syed and Derek Willis, the project uses data from the U.S. Federal Procurement Data System, which covers all contracts worth $10,000 or more. Have a look at Moiz’s thread explaining some of the key features. We particularly like the company tags.
With the new tool comes more detailed analysis of U.S. contracts so far. ProPublica and AL.com reporters found 51% of the deals with first-time contractors were awarded without competition, a practice that increases the risk of price gouging and fraud. Navajo Nation hospitals are verifying the quality of masks supplied by a former White House official, who won the $3 million contract just 11 days after registering his company, according to an investigation by Yeganeh Torbati and Derek Willis. In New Jersey, a car salesman and a Macedonian ex-minister took part in a $45 million mask scheme, reveals William K. Rashbaum for the New York Times.
Emergency aid transparency: Keep the receipts, tag COVID-19 contracts and make the information public, advises our Executive Director Gavin Hayman in an interview with Devex’s Michael Igoe on how donors can match speed with transparency in coronavirus funding and emergency procurement. “It’s a simple requirement: Tell us who’s getting the contracts and assemble that information in a vaguely readable format.”
Community-run crowdsourcing projects are proving a valuable source of information on the implementation of contracts amid the pandemic. The National’s Linus Unah writes about Follow The Money’s COVID-19 Transparency and Accountability Project, an initiative that brings together over 6,000 members across seven African countries, including volunteers in Nigeria’s Kaduna state who are documenting irregularities in the distribution of food packages during lockdowns.
Mysterious deals in Moldova: Nikolai Pakholnitsky from Moldova’s Newsmaker writes about the country’s problems with emergency procurement, why the government is bypassing the transparent e-procurement platform MTender for health purchases, and the most common fraud schemes. Ion Preasca of Rise Moldova digs into a $2m contract for COVID-19 tests. A public database run by Moldovan civil society provides regularly updated information on hundreds of COVID-19 related contracts and counting at www.tender.health
Transparent e-procurement isn’t a silver bullet for corruption, as an exclusive by Reuter’s Natalia Zinets shows. Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities are investigating a tender for 71,000 hospital suits, accusing the government of bypassing its own procurement rules.
Emergency contracts without competition provide ample space for abuse, and for bad actors to get back into the game. Ernesto Cabral from Ojo Público finds that municipalities in Peru have contracted $350,000 in food from a company that was convicted of corruption.
Masks and middlemen: Chinese Customs inspected and released 3.86 billion yuan worth of face masks for export in March, exceeding the amount for the entire of 2019, according to an investigation by Hong Kong’s Initium Media into the production and exportation of COVID-19 supplies in China.
Defense is another sector plagued by notorious secrecy. In Niger, Reuter’s Moussa Aksar finds that almost 40% of the country’s $312 million defense spending over the last three years was lost through inflated costs or materials not delivered.
Join us for the webinar: Investigating the Pandemic: Tracking Billions in COVID-19 Contracts we are organizing together with the Global Investigative Journalism Network on 4 June. Register here.
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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