Wednesday, September 7, 2016

#MTGov Daily Rundown: More Questions Raised About State Marketing Contract

Another Montana newspaper is taking the Bullock Administration's Department of Commerce to task over the questionable circumstances surrounding the awarding of the state marketing contract to an out-of-state firm.

"The awarding of a $7 million contract to an out-of-state firm to promote Montana tourism may be technically justified. But the complexity and seemingly arbitrary nature of the bid-awarding process was less than satisfying.

All else being equal — or even close to equal — the bidding process should favor a Montana company for the award of a state contract of this size.

The Bozeman ad agency MercuryCSC has held the contract with the state tourism office for the last 10 years but chose not to bid to renew the contract — apparently because of some friction between the company and state officials." -Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 9/4/2016


The Chronicle editorial board notes the questionable circumstances being the extension of the deadline, and the fact that a senior state tourism official has a cousin who works as an executive for the out of state firm that received the contract.

"And with little explanation, the process was stretched out when a deadline was extended for part of the bid submission process. Add to that the fact that a senior state tourism official has a cousin who is a vice-president in the Wisconsin firm that won the contract and it all gets even murkier, though other state officials saw no conflict in the relationship." -Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 9/4/2016

"But when the process of evaluating bids becomes as complex and cloudy as this one was, its effectiveness has to be questioned." -Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 9/4/2016


Many across Montana were surprised by last month's news that the Bullock Administration's Department of Commerce was awarding it's $7 million tourism marketing contract to a firm in Wisconsin, Hoffman York. Several Montana companies were competing for the contract. The contract was previously held by Bozeman-based Mercury CSC, leading to new questions about the evaluation process.

"The department awarded the contract to Milwaukee agency Hoffman York at the beginning of August using a point system it says is objective to evaluate bidders. But several agencies involved in and familiar with the bidding argue that the process is far from scientific and that the state demonstrated strange behavior bordering on favoritism. "-Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 8/22/2016


Interestingly, Jennifer Pelej, bureau chief for the tourism office's marketing department, disclosed a month into the process that she has a cousin who works as an executive for Hoffman York. Pelej also used to work for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

 "More than a month into the selection process, Pelej also disclosed that her cousin, Jaime Hutchings, works for Hoffman as a VP account supervisor." -Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 8/21/2016

 Pelej is also a former employee of the anti-coal National Wildlife Federation.


  
For some reason, the rules were changed at the last minute, and scores changed dramatically. Critics of the contract award have also noticed that, somehow, an out-of-state company scored much higher on "understanding the Montana brand than the Montana based companies.

"Questions arose early on when officials unexpectedly extended the deadline for the agencies to submit their first response — a 100-plus page document that applicants had weeks to prepare — five hours before it was due. When asked by an applicant about the reason for the extension, Procurement Unit Supervisor Tia Snyder wrote that the state wanted “to give all Offeror’s (sic) a chance to better prepare their response to this solicitation.” -Bozeman Daily Chronicle 8/21/2016


The Great Falls Tribune editorial board has also questioned the contract.

  "We think Montanans should be able to feel confident that this new contract was awarded solely on the basis of merit, but the subjective ranking system doesn’t instill that confidence, especially with a relative working at the contract winner. Professional services are not subject to competitive bidding laws in Montana, but that doesn’t mean state government should give away the dairy farm as if it’s a bowl of cottage cheese." -Great Falls Tribune, 8/26/2016


This isn't the first time that Bullock Administration officials have been questioned about possible conflicts of interest in the awarding of state contracts. Earlier this year, news broke that a Bullock Administration official had direct ties to a Butte based non-profit from which the state leased a facility in Galen to house some of the patients from the closing Montana Developmental Center in Boulder.

There was no competitive bidding process to award the Galen lease. In fact, officials said Wednesday they didn’t even look at potential alternatives to the $1.2 million annual agreement.
That's how the state’s newest landlord became Community Counseling and Correctional Services -- a Butte-based nonprofit that employs Brandie Villa, a top company accountant and the wife of Governor’s Office Budget Director Dan Villa.

The move has left some wondering how a building owned by Brandie Villa’s bosses -- one that might have sat vacant and heavy on CCCS’ books, in the absence of a state-backed lease -- suddenly became Montana’s first and only choice to house a mental health facility.” -Helena Independent Record, 4/8/2016

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