Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz, spokesperson for the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) in the Senate, stated on NotiUno 630’s Normando en la Mañana that the government of Governor Jenniffer González Colón avoids public bidding meetings to hide a contract scheme. Hernández Ortiz claimed that the government uses third parties instead of public bidding to avoid oversight, drawing a parallel between the failed contract of the Department of the Family and the Power Expectations case.
He explained that public bidding meeting members, mostly career employees, must file ethics reports and are not exposed to the same political pressures as external third parties. Hernández Ortiz indicated that this issue has been escalating since April, when his delegation made public an email and a $60,000 monthly contract for a single participant, awarded when Suzanne Roig Fuertes worked at the Department of Health.
The senator said he thought the governor would have no choice but to fire Roig Fuertes after the situation, but claimed she won’t because the administration believes no crime was committed since no money was disbursed and no formal contract was signed.