That's Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's contract. And Whitefish is getting a set price. Why should the government audit their books or care how much profit they make. As long as they get everything done they have to for $300 million, why is it a problem? They're not getting a blank check.
Small company from Trump Interior chief's hometown wins massive contract to restore PR's power
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That's Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's contract. And Whitefish is getting a set price. Why should the government audit their books or care how much profit they make. As long as they get everything done they have to for $300 million, why is it a problem? They're not getting a blank check.
Why it's a problem? Did you even read the article
Because of this
The company has been the target of heavy criticism over questions as to why the small company, which only had two full-time employees when the storm struck, was selected for such a lucrative government contract to help clean up the island.
Two House committees and a federal watchdog have all opened investigations into the deal. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz has called for the deal to be voided and investigated after representatives for the company feuded with her on Twitter and asked her if she wanted them to stop working.
“We’ve got 44 linemen rebuilding power lines in your city & 40 more men just arrived. Do you want us to send them back or keep working?” Whitefish Energy tweeted to the mayor Wednesday.
“They are threatening not to do their job which frankly is quite irregular for a company hired to the work for the public sector,” she tweeted in response.
“The contract should be voided right away and a proper process which is clear, transparent, legal, moral and ethical should take place," Cruz added in comments to Yahoo News.
Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee have also raised questions about the scope of the deal.
“The size and terms of the contract, as well as the circumstances surrounding the contract’s formation, raise questions regarding PREPA’s standard contract awarding procedures,” Reps. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) wrote Thursday.
Whitefish Energy is a company founded by "industry veteran Andy Techmanski who is a trained journeyman lineman with over 22 years of experience completing critical utility infrastructure projects worldwide" The company provides on demand electrical contractors for short-term utility projects. They have been in business since 2015 and are backed by "HBC Investments (HBC) and Flat Creek Capital (FCC), both based in Dallas, TX, and Comtrafo Transformers, based in Brazil".
They have a number of previous projects for fixing power after disasters under their belt. No one questioned these previous projects. Why are they questioning the Puerto Rico contract?
The company is well backed and founded by one of the experts in the power infrastructure industry. They have also delivered quickly on their commitments in Puerto Rico. Why are people having a problem with this? Sounds like pure politics -- simply because the company is based in the federal Interior chief's hometown. Nothing more than that.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz needs to keep her mouth shut and resign. She is not helping the recovery. The contract firms, FEMA, and everyone else do not want to work with her. She has regularly abused anyone who is helping. And the only relief supplies she has distributed has been to friends and donors -- while allowing the rest of her city goes without.
“The size and terms of the contract, as well as the circumstances surrounding the contract’s formation, raise questions regarding PREPA’s standard contract awarding procedures,” Reps. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) wrote Thursday.
Lot of Republican liberals in Arkansas now?
Or is he one of those fucking stupid inbred Cons?
Actually it is two founders (one of them primary - the other listed as corporate secretary) and a small set of employees in the main office. The "two employees" thing was an invented misinterpretation.
My neighbor owns a "job shop" firm. He has three employees and has about 500 IT contractors placed across the country. His firm takes a cut on each contract. This is a very common business model for contract firms (IT, Business, Utility, Commercial Construction, etc.). The main business operation is always small -- yet they can place many contractors. There is nothing unusual about the Whitefish Energy contract operation or the size of the business.
Your neighbor is not getting a 300 million contract from the government with strange clause about not getting audited under ANY EVENT
So how many full time employees does this company have? What is this small set? And why did a federal watchdog want an investigation into this company?
First -- let's discuss the contract -- the 300 Million is the max spending cap, not the total contract amount. This means that each contractor is paid at a particular rate, the firm takes a cut. The maximum amount that can be spend over the designated time period for contractor pay, food, lodging, etc. is $300 million. Based on only supplying a couple hundred employees the contract is not likely to hit the cap, and fall short of it - which is common. The amount left on the contract at the end of the contract period can be rolled over to a new contract or the contract cancelled if the power is back on.
Let's also discuss the audit clause -- it refers to avoiding a standard auditing relationship where the power company audits each expense line item in detail. This is bypassed due to the urgency of the situation and the issue controlled by setting a max amount on hotel & food expenses each day (effectively a per diem for food). Obviously a small contracting firm does not want to hire an entire financial and legal department to go through squabbles over expense report line items which are kicked back from a power company in their standard employee auditing procedure.
This is normal business procedure for small contract firms that do crisis work. What is the big issue you have with it.