The lawmakers' demand follows a May 22 ProPublica report detailing the contract won by former White House deputy chief of staff Zach Fuentes. The report found that 247,000 of the masks delivered by his company may be unfit for medical use and another 130,400 are not the type specified in procurement data. The lawmakers sent a letter to IHS Director Rear Adm. Michael Weahkee on Wednesday asking for specifics about the contract.
Navajo Council Delegate Amber Crotty told Law360 that she met with Weahkee on Wednesday at the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, New Mexico, and told him she was concerned about the PPE. He told her the IHS is following up and looking for primary source manufacturer documents related to the supplies to guarantee that they are legitimate, Crotty said Thursday.
Crotty, who represents several communities in the northeast part of the reservation spanning Arizona and New Mexico, said lawmakers had reached out to her to see if she received a direct response about the masks.
"I appreciate their swift response because we need people to feel safe," she said regarding the lawmakers' letter, adding, "we want health care facilities that meet that standard."
She said she was relieved to learn this week that workers at Northern Navajo Medical Center who had been exposed to the coronavirus were not exposed because of their occupations. The council needs to go back and see how employees at other IHS facilities have fared in terms of occupational exposure, she said.
The Navajo Nation has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting as of Wednesday that it has confirmed 4,994 positive cases and 159 deaths. The nation is heading into its eighth straight week of lockdown to overcome the pandemic.
"The IHS facilities serving the tribe are in dire need of PPE to combat the virus and ensure medical personnel are protected from potential exposure," the lawmakers, including Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., wrote.
The Democrats are raising questions about the federal contract, which was reportedly awarded to Zach Fuentes LLC, a company formed by the former aide to President Donald Trump, with limited competitive bidding and no prior federal contract. They are also requesting that the contracting officer who executed the deal brief their offices to explain why the contract was awarded only 11 days after the company was created.
The lawmakers noted that Weahkee had committed to providing details surrounding the circumstance of the procurement and supply of the masks on a May 23 call with the New Mexico congressional delegation.
Fuentes told ProPublica his political connections did not influence his company's selection. The IHS Navajo Area Office will determine if the masks, which were produced in China, will be returned, the agency told the outlet.
Representatives for the IHS and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, three House members sent a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office asking the watchdog to immediately open an investigation into "waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement of this contract."
Reps. Ruben Gallego, Deb Haaland and Raul Grijalva, all Democrats from Arizona who also signed the letter to Weahkee, called the distribution of potentially ineffective equipment to the Navajo Nation "particularly disturbing" given the scale of the outbreak it's fighting.
The IHS director has been visiting the Navajo Nation, which spreads across parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, this week. On Tuesday he joined Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer in a town hall discussion. He did not address the report on the masks but said the IHS has delivered about 580,000 N95 masks to the Navajo people with another 100,000 on the way. It's unclear if those numbers include the potentially insufficient masks.
Weahkee said that beyond the initial $600 million Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding earmarked directly for the Navajo Nation, it has been allocated an additional $234 million in federal funds to face the pandemic.
Nez and Lizer announced on Tuesday that data from the Navajo Area Indian Health Service indicate that the surge peak for COVID-19 IHS hospitalizations occurred from April 21 to April 26, a month earlier than initial projections.
"We are seeing some very good indications that the numbers are flattening, but please remain diligent and continue to take care of your elders," Nez said in a press release Wednesday evening. "We are overcoming this pandemic, but the war on this monster called COVID-19 is not over."
--Additional reporting by Emma Whitford. Editing by Steven Edelstone.
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