Iowa's $2.3M contract-tracing deal goes to firm that helped Trump, Reynolds campaigns

After facing a workforce shortage for months, Iowa awarded an emergency $2.3 million COVID-19 contact-tracing contract to a company that has worked for the campaigns of President Donald Trump and Gov. Kim Reynolds and is owned by a Republican insider.

The Iowa Department of Public Health selected Iowa City-based MCI out of 14 applicants, saying it submitted the best proposal and that political considerations did not play a role in the deal.

The company is expected to supply 200 contact tracers to supplement the hundreds of public health workers who have failed to keep up with Iowa’s fast-growing virus caseload. The first 60 graduated training and were beginning state work Friday.

MCI had pitched its services to Iowa officials since the beginning of the pandemic and says it does contact tracing and management in six other states, including Alabama and Louisiana.

Read more: https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/iowa-contract-tracing-mci-anthony-marlowe-gop-insider-trump-gov-kim-reynolds-20201204
(Cedar Rapids Gazette)