The Federal Emergency Management Agency will ask the city of Pittsburgh for documents explaining its $977,550 purchase of a firehouse ventilation system from an Ohio company with federal money and without a competitive process, agency officials said today.
The city is buying the system, made by Sweden-based Nederman Inc., from Toledo-area firm Clean Air Systems Inc. Two other vendors have complained that they were not given the opportunity to submit their own proposals, though FEMA -- which is paying $716,760 of the cost under an Assistance to Firefighters Grant -- demands "full and open competition" on all purchases made with its grants.
FEMA regularly reviews grants, and in this case will conduct "a full desk review," said Lisa Lewis, director of the agency's grants management division. "With the concerns [expressed by competing vendors] we'll take a closer look at it" than normal.
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