As we reported several of the contracts for the government’s quarantine isolation facilities were paid even without the required signatures of Civil Defense Administrator Charles Esteves, Certifying Officer Marie Quenga, Attorney General Leevin Camacho, BBMR Director Lester Carlson and the governor. Emails obtained via a FOIA request indicated the Governor’s legal Counsel Haig Hyunh was in charge of negotiations and was seeking FEMA reimbursement. That however changed after contracts went unsigned. Esteves told KUAM that he didn’t sign them because he was not part of the procurement process, which is part of his job responsibility. Ultimately on May 8th the governor submitted a memorandum to DOA Director Edward Birn citing her Title 10 super powers allowing her to suspend rules and regulations and ordered him to pay out the invoices to the quarantine / isolation facilities even though the contracts were not signed. Additionally, a budget breakdown from BBMR indicated that $4 million in CARES Act funding would be set aside to pay for mandatory quarantine protocols. Senator James Moylan says he will be seeking answers to as to how this happened and why proper procurement procedures were not followed.
Moylan plans oversight hearing about quarantine/isolation facilities procurement
