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ST. LOUIS — Federal agents have opened an investigation into a ӣ����Ƶ police department contract, amid allegations that officials rigged a multimillion-dollar bid for body cameras and electroshock guns in favor of one company.

Utility Associates Inc., out of Decatur, Georgia, complained months ago that the bidding process was slanted toward Axon Enterprise Inc., of Scottsdale, Arizona. This spring, auditors in the ӣ����Ƶ Comptroller’s office began reviewing the deal.

Now sources have confirmed that federal investigators have sent subpoenas to ӣ����Ƶ officials and to the police department related to the body camera contract and bid solicitation.

Thursday, the city’s new Board of Police Commissioners, in its first meeting since the state took over the department, is scheduled to consider the purchase of body cameras.

City officials have deemed Axon’s bid preferable because they would provide the body cameras at a lower cost, and Utility Associates made no offer on a request for Tasers. And police officials said Axon makes a better product.

But Utility officials have complained. They said the process has been unfair because the city’s Supply Commission wrote the request for proposals in such a way that requested Tasers, a brand name that only Axon makes.

Axon said in an email on Wednesday that it stands by its bidding practices.

“While we are disappointed with the decision to revisit the award,” said Axon spokeswoman Alex Engel, “we welcome the opportunity to continue to compete with our best-in-class products and services.”

Moreover, she said, the company is not aware of “any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Axon.”

The police department declined to comment on the federal investigation.

Officials from Utility Associates declined comment for this story.

ӣ����Ƶ officials began discussing body cameras in 2014 after Michael Brown was shot to death by a Ferguson police officer. Some ӣ����Ƶ police sergeants started using cameras on a trial basis in 2015.

In 2020, after years of debate, ӣ����Ƶ first purchased body cameras for officers, from Utility Associates, in a five-year, $5.78 million deal. The contract was to supply enough gear for 800 officers.

But police have recently complained that the Utility gear wasn’t working well: Utility’s cameras have overheated, officials said, and officers sometimes have to leave patrol to return to the station to swap out batteries. Utility’s video quality wasn’t as good as Axon’s, officials continued, and the Utility camera is sewn into officer’s shirts at a spot where the view can be blocked.

In September, ӣ����Ƶ police Chief Robert Tracy and Axon’s deputy general counsel Robert Driscoll Jr. signed an agreement to piggyback off a state contract so the city could team up with Axon for body cameras. The total cost to the city: $25.5 million over five years.

But critics called it a no-bid contract and raised concerns. ӣ����Ƶ officials decided to nix the Axon pact and start over with a fresh round of bids, competitively this time. Axon and Utility were the only bidders.

Axon’s bid: $1.4 million for 1,000 body cameras, $2.8 million for 300 in-car cameras, $12 million for 1,000 Tasers and free training, totaling about $16 million.

Utility Associates: $5 million for 1,000 body cameras, $2.9 million for 300 in-car cameras — but no bid for Tasers.

The city put together a spreadsheet comparing the two companies’ bids. The city Supply Division recommended Axon get the contract because it replied to all line items on the bid product specification.

In December, a city procurement employee emailed the police department asking if it wanted to accept the Axon bid. Not an hour later, police Lt. Daniel Chitwood said the department did.

In January, Axon was officially awarded the contract.

But when Utility found out about it, the company contested it to the procurement commissioner, Chris Carter. Utility said it didn’t bid for Tasers because it doesn’t make them.

In March, the state auditor received a whistleblower complaint alleging the process to award the bid had been rigged in favor of Axon, .

In April, city budget director Paul Payne raised concerns about the cost and excluded money to cover the contract from the city’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. “I thought the excessive costs raised questions,” Payne later recalled, “and police weren’t at liberty to discuss it.”

In May, after Chief Tracy presented the police department budget to aldermen, Tracy acknowledged the problem. But he also said the Axon contract was a good deal that would provide officers with better equipment than they currently have.

He blamed much of the extra attention on a lobbying campaign by Utility Associates.

“You’ve got a product that’s inferior,” he said. “You can say you don’t like the process. That doesn’t mean we did something wrong.”

In mid-June, Utility was contacted by the police department and told that the chief’s office was reconsidering the Axon bid and wanted to consider options to continue service with Utility before the end of June.

Utility’s contract with the city ended June 30 but was extended week-to-week as the discussion continued.

The city has since terminated the contract with Axon.

The Police Board, appointed by Gov. Mike Kehoe, is expected to take up the issue at its Thursday morning meeting.

Kehoe made reimposing state control of ӣ����Ƶ police one of his main priorities when he was sworn into office in January; the state Legislature moved swiftly to approve a plan in March.

Jacob Barker of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed to this report.