Backlash to Abbott's so-called "Contact Tracing" Boondoggle is still Growing

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"David said furthermore, 'As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.'"
1 Samuel 26:10

Ouch:

HHS Office of the Inspector General
P.O. Box 85200
Austin, Texas 78708

Dear Inspector General Kauffman:

I request of you, in the strongest possible way—and for a multitude of sound reasons—to begin an investigation into the handling of the contact tracing contract process and procedures before the Health and Human Services Commission moves forward with the proposed contact tracing program.

I am requesting the following questions be investigated:

• The efficacy of the selected contractor, MTX Group. 

• The newly discovered, possibly misleading, and undisclosed information of some board members that may have had undue influence on final contract award. 

• There are reports citing its failure to fulfill the terms of previous agreements. How could a company with a questionable performance record have been rigorously vetted in such a short acquisition period? 

• How do we expect a company that has only had a few small, $1 to 2 million contracts to manage a nearly $300 million contract that requires rapid mobilization? 

• What proof is there that a company with only a couple hundred employees, located mostly in India, can recruit, train, and manage over 4,000 tracers to do something that has never been attempted on this scale?

As time is of the essence, I do ask for a speedy resolution and ask that the contract is halted until a deep investigation may be conducted.

Thank you,

Senator Bob Hall

Hoo boy.

If Abbott's smart, he'll cancel the contract as a Friday afternoon document dump later today.

Bottom Line:  This contract has become a political albatross.  It WILL get cancelled.  At this point, the only real question is how much pain Abbott wants to put himself through before he surrenders to the obvious.