(CNN)Almost three years after a tiny Montana company ignited a firestorm of controversy when it signed a massive contract to repair Puerto Rico’s hurricane-battered electricity grid, the firm’s CEO has won another disaster relief deal: supplying the federal government with protective gear in the fight against the coronavirus.
A new company co-led by Andy Techmanski, the CEO of Whitefish Energy, signed a no-bid, $4 million contract in late June to provide reusable isolation gowns for the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to federal contracting records.
Whitefish won a $300 million contract to help rebuild Puerto Rico’s electricity grid after the devastating Hurricane Maria in September 2017, even though it had limited experience in disaster relief and just a handful of employees when the storm hit the island. The deal was cancelled by the island’s governor barely a month later amid allegations of price-gouging and questions surrounding how Whitefish got the job.