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Hurricane Maria relief fails to reach Puerto Rico after aid contract cancelled

Two brothers sign a waiver releasing the US government of liability after failing to provide tarpaulins and plastic sheeting.

People wade through a flooded expressway in Yauco, Puerto Rico
Image: People wade through a flooded expressway in Yauco, Puerto Rico
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A deal signed to provide vital hurricane relief to Puerto Rico has been halted with no supplies having been delivered.

Newly created Florida-based firm Bronze Star LLC - formed by two brothers - won more than $30m in federal contracts to provide relief to the US territory following the devastation of Hurricane Maria.

That was despite having never been awarded a government contract or previously delivered the supplies demanded of them.

The company had been tasked with supplying 500,000 tarpaulins and 60,000 rolls of plastic sheeting for repairs, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) terminated the arrangement this month without paying any money.

After putting an end to the deal, the government notified the brothers that it would seek $9.3m in damages unless they signed a waiver releasing the US from any liability, which the pair agreed to.

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A man in a shelter set up after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico
Image: A man in a shelter set up after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico

FEMA spokesman Ron Roth defended the agency, insisting that it had done its due diligence and properly evaluated each of the bids for the contracts, but it has come under fire from other quarters.

More on Hurricane Maria

Professor Dan Feldman, of the John Day College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York, said: "The award of a government contract to a company with absolutely no experience in producing the materials sought obviously raises very bright red flags.

"I would hope and assume that the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security would begin immediately to take a very hard look at this process."

Four weeks went by between the awarding of the contracts and the cancellation, tying up millions in disaster relief funds at a time when thousands of Puerto Rico residents remain homeless.

 Residents clear the streets after Hurricane Maria made landfall in the Guaynabo suburb of San Juan, Puerto Rico
Image: Residents clear the streets after Hurricane Maria hit the Guaynabo suburb of San Juan

The contract for the plastic sheeting has now been handed to another Florida company - OSC Solutions Inc - with vast experience of federal contracting and producing such supplies.

The process to find a provider for the tarps has been restarted, but Mr Roth said that more than 93,000 have already been sent to distribution centres on the island and that anyone in need should be able to get one.

One of the brothers behind Bronze Star, US Navy veteran Kayon Jones, has expressed regret over how the deal faltered, adding: "We were trying to help; it wasn't about making money or anything like that."

But he insisted that manufacturers contacted before the bidding began had assured him they could provide the tarps, only to realise later that it could not meet the government's requirements because most of the raw materials came from Houston - itself still recovering from Hurricane Harvey.

Earlier this month, officials warned that Puerto Rico would not recover from the devastation of Maria without up to $21bn in aid from the US government.