IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — After facing a workforce shortage for months, Iowa has awarded an emergency $2.3 million contact-tracing contract to a company owned by a Republican Party insider. The Iowa Department of Public Health selected Iowa City-based MCI for the contract out of 14 companies that applied, saying it submitted the best proposal and that political considerations did not play a role. 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 is owned by GOP donor Anthony Marlowe, and has done work for President Donald Trump and Gov. Kim Reynolds’ political campaigns.