Washington — After Hurricane Maria damaged tens of thousands of homes in Puerto Rico, a newly created Florida company won more than $30 million in federal contracts to provide emergency tarps and plastic sheeting for repairs.
Bronze Star LLC never delivered those urgently needed supplies.
Edgardo de León sits in his living room with a hole in the ceiling caused by the whip of hurricane Maria, in Cataño, Puerto Rico. Picture: Carlos Giusti/AP
According to an exclusive Associated Press report, the Federal Emergency Management Agency terminated the contracts this month, without paying any money, and re-started the process to supply more tarps for the U.S. territory.
The original effort took nearly four weeks between the day FEMA awarded the contracts to Bronze Star and the day it canceled them, tying up millions in disaster relief funds.
Thousands of Puerto Ricans remain homeless, and many complain the federal government is taking too long to install tarps.