There were valid reasons for the state to award no-bid contracts in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic to expedite purchases of personal protective equipment and other medical supplies. But there is no reason to continue that practice today, regardless of whether the state still is under an emergency order.
One of those no-bid contracts awarded last year went to a company that now is at the center of controversy over a data breach affecting thousands of Pennsylvaniaresidents.
Insight Global, an Atlanta-based staffing agency, received a $29 million no-bid contract to conduct contact tracing of people who tested positive for COVID-19. In late April, the company was cited as the source of a data breach at the state Department of Health, a breach that involved medical information of about 72,000 Pennsylvanians.
Health Department officials said security protocols were disregarded by some Insight Global employees, resulting in the leak of information such as a person’s name, age, gender, sexual orientation and COVID diagnosis.
Data breaches of any sort are concerning, but this one is particularly troubling because those who tested positive for the virus were encouraged to participate in contact tracing as a way to stem the spread of the virus. They had every right to expect their confidential information would be protected.
The incident has state House Republicans calling for an investigation into Insight Global and an immediate end to any contract with the commonwealth. Some lawmakers are also calling for the governor to end no-bid contracting during the pandemic. The implication is clear: Did the state rush to contract with a company ill-equipped for the job? Would usual bidding requirements have forestalled such an arrangement?
It’s impossible to definitively determine if the data breach would have been avoided had the contract gone out for bid. What can be determined is this: The conventional bidding process entails a review and vetting of potential awardees. It’s a process — a public one, at that — that takes longer but gives government time to consider options.
With the number of people vaccinated growing and the number of COVID cases dropping, the emergency situation that gave rise to the awarding of no-bid contracts has passed. The practice should end.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS
