- The $55.5 million no-bid contract, signed last month, was with a small Virginia firm, Panthera Worldwide LLC, with no history in the mask business and a parent company in bankruptcy.
- Panthera originally had agreed to provide 10 million N95 masks to FEMA by May 1.
- The contract had been extended once to May 11.
- A FEMA spokeswoman said the contract was canceled Tuesday “on the grounds of nondelivery.”
- Panthera’s two owners have been accused of fraud in lawsuits by business associates—which the owners deny—and both had IRS tax liens filed against them in 2018 for alleged unpaid taxes