TALLAHASSEE, Fla. A government watchdog is crying foul over the states decision to award an estimated $135 million contract to Deloitte, the same firm that built Floridas flawed unemployment system. In its report, Florida TaxWatch called the contract award hard to believe. The Agency for Health Care Administration did not consider how poorly the unemployment portal built by Deloitte worked before awarding the consulting firm a new nine-figure contract. Bob Nave, vice president of research at Florida TaxWatch, a nonprofit government watchdog group, believes the state agency should have taken that information into account. Jonathan Gandal, a managing director for Deloitte, offered this statement on the contract award: Deloitte received the highest score in an open and competitive procurement after an independent committee evaluated all the proposals and determined that we offered the best value to Florida taxpayers from both a technical and financial perspective.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida’s nationally celebrated COVID-19 dashboard suggests reopening is going as good as one can expect. But the firing of the architect and manager of the state’s dashboard raises questions about the reliability of state health department data. An email sent by Dr. Rebekah Jones, who built and managed Florida’s COVID-19 dashboard, to researchers and her former team makes a troubling claim. Marsh noted that to reopen the state, officials need to show that not only is the state flattening the curve but also that the number of infections is trending downward. “Allegations that Florida’s government may have tried to manipulate or alter data to make reopening (the economy) appear safer is outrageous," Rizzo said.