Inside Florida's frenzied, failed dash to dole out $600 million in no-bid mask deals

MIAMI — When Florida belatedly realized last week that its COVID-19 problem was going to cascade into a statewide crisis, the state Division of Emergency Management embarked on a frantic, frenzied attempt to buy N95 masks, the gold standard in hospital protective equipment, negotiating more than half a billion in purchase orders in just the past week.The biggest deal by far was a $225 million purchase order — 30 million masks at $7.50 a piece — agreed to March 30. It was brokered through a Miami lobbyist, Manny Reyes, son of the Miami commissioner Manolo Reyes. In normal times the masks might ...

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