City Reviews No-bid Contract

[JC]

The issue: a city contract, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for police computers and how it seems the work simply landed in one company's lap.

In a public hearing, City Auditor Stan Sewell revealed an $800,000 contract was not bid correctly.

"Definitely. According to the city code, it should have been bid," Sewell says. "It should have been advertised and bid."

Tuesday's meeting was called after questions were raised about the 3-year-old contract with Excalibur Integrated Systems.

The company provided computers for patrol cars.

www.wrcbtv.com/story/16646756/city-auditor-it-should-have-been-bid



Good work, April. <-- Sincere
I know the city has done similar things with other contracts (like with GT Distributions) but I find it a bit of a stretch to lay claim that they purposely "excluded minority businesses". For a moment, I thought I was listening to Brenda there...

[Gary]

So the mayor thinks an $800,000 no-bid contract is a "minor" matter?

How much does the contract have to be before it becomes a big deal? A million? Two million?

Sheesh...

[LimitedRecourse]

"So the mayor thinks an $800,000 no-bid contract is a "minor" matter?"

Ironically the EXACT number that was used to eliminate take-home cars for police officers because that HUGE amount of money was bakrupting the City.

[ssmynkint]

Maybe she'll throw the book at the miscreants.

[Tookie]

And this is how the City Council responded. How embarassing and what a bunch of clowns.

www.chattanoogan.com/2012/1/31/218428/City-Council-Members-Hit-Handling-Of.aspx

[Warkitty]

harumph harumph how dare you question the Wizard? Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

[ssmynkint]

Where are the falling houses when we need them/

[Justin Thyme]

Dan Johnson, the mayor's chief of staff, was among those responding that he had not - after he commented, "I think the question is insulting."

So if a question might be deemed insulting it shouldn't be asked? Does Mr. Johnson think that the questionable awarding of an $800,000 no-bid contract shouldn't be investigated because it might offend someone?

The impression Mr. Johnson's reaction leaves me with is that there is something fishy about the awarding of the contract and Mr. Johnson has reason to not want this investigated any more. In fact the reaction of most of the city council makes me believe that each of them would rather see the city spend $800,000 with a convicted felon receiving the contract than to see an investigation into the awarding of this contract and maybe the method the city uses to award $millions in contracts.

While there is nothing at this point that warrants accusing the mayors office and city council of corruption there sure is enough to make me think the whole bunch is corrupt.

[Warkitty]

Agreed.

[Gary]

If a question might be deemed insulting it shouldn't be asked?

That offended me.

[exccinsider]

I think this is the tip of the iceberg. A multimillion dollar contract was also awarded to Excalibur for the City's wireless mesh network. I would love to find out if a competitive bid process was followed. I would tend to believe it wasn't based on the past contracts.