Broward Health’s $71.4 Million, No-Bid Ad Deal With Zimmerman Delayed By Suicide

Broward Health’s plan to award a no-bid advertising contract worth as much as $71.4 million over six years to a politically connected advertising firm was interrupted last month after hospital district chief executive Dr. Nabil El Sanadi killed himself.

The deal, negotiated in secret by El Sanadi and Broward Health’s board of commissioners without considering any firm but one run by a major Republican fundraiser, is so large that records say other planned projects might have to be delayed.

The records also show that El Sanadi pushed the deal despite a warning in December from Broward Health’s chief financial officer, Robert K. Martin, that the proposed agreement with Fort Lauderdale’s Zimmerman Advertising was based on phony statistics.