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July 1st 04, 07:55 PM
Governor's office investigates DCF over contract, trip
By Megan O'Matz, Mark Hollis
and Sally Kestin Staff Writers
Posted July 1 2004
Florida's chief inspector general in Gov. Jeb Bush's office is
investigating a $21 million state Department of Children & Families
contract to fix the agency's problem-plagued computer system and a top
employee's trip paid for by a software company, state Rep. Sandra
Murman said.
Alia Faraj, Bush's spokeswoman, confirmed that a "whistle-blower"
investigation is under way but would not provide details about the
issues under review.
"There is an investigation being conducted by the governor's inspector
general," Faraj said. "It would be inappropriate for us to comment on
an ongoing investigation."
A high-ranking state official, who asked not to be identified for fear
of jeopardizing his job, said he provided information to the Inspector
General's Office that the DCF, under Secretary Jerry Regier, awarded a
$21 million computer contract to American Management Systems, a
Virginia company in which former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating was a
board member. Regier served in Keating's cabinet before coming to
Florida in 2002 and Keating recommended Regier for the DCF job.
Gregory L. Coler, AMS's lobbyist in Tallahassee who served as the
state's social services chief until 1991, said Regier and Ben Harris,
the DCF's deputy secretary for operations and technology, "recused"
themselves from the award process. Keating, he said, played no role in
securing the contract.
The state official also said that he questioned the appropriateness of
a trip that Harris took two weeks ago to Sydney, Australia, in the
information he provided to the inspector general. The trip was paid
for by InterSystems Corp., a software company doing business with the
DCF. Harris planned a second trip to Australia in August paid for by
another company, Terrapinn, that puts on trade exhibitions and
conferences. That company does no work for the DCF.
While the state Commission on Ethics cleared the trips, Bush policy
forbids employees from accepting "benefits" from people or companies
that do business with the state or could in the future.
The state official said the investigation appeared to already be under
way when he contacted the Inspector General's Office, likely stemming
from a complaint made by a DCF employee.
Murman, a Tampa Republican who leads the House Subcommittee on Human
Services Appropriation, which oversees the DCF, said the Inspector
General's Office is expected to release its findings within a few
weeks. The office investigates allegations of misconduct, waste and
fraud.
Harris could not be reached for comment despite a call to his office,
an e-mail message and requests made through a DCF spokesman to
interview him.
Regier declined a request for an interview. Department spokesman Bill
Spann said Regier "has never discussed the award or the process with
Frank Keating, and was not even aware that he was involved with AMS
until recently."
Keating was vacationing in Alaska and could not be reached, but a
spokesman said that the former governor and Regier hadn't talked in at
least a year.
"He put in a good word for him with Gov. Bush's office when Jerry was
hired, but that's about it," said Dan Mahoney of the American Council
of Life Insurers, headed by Keating.
As a Cabinet secretary for Keating, Regier helped reform Oklahoma's
Health Department, which was dealing with a scandal over paid
employees not showing up for work.
Bush hired him to overhaul the DCF after it was battered with
criticism over reports of dead and missing children, backlogged abuse
investigations and a record-keeping system so sloppy that the agency
inadvertently auctioned off confidential files to the public.
Regier, in turn, tapped Harris, 28, a fellow Oklahoman, to fix
Florida's much-maligned computer system, HomeSafenet, a project that
is more than seven years behind schedule and has cost taxpayers tens
of millions more than expected.
HomeSafenet was intended to modernize the social services agency,
replacing a patchwork of paper files and a half-dozen different
computer systems. Caseworkers began using the new system several years
ago but complained vigorously about difficulties in entering and
finding data. The system has crashed on occasion, leaving workers at
times without access to records for hours.
On Oct. 31, the agency solicited proposals to complete work on the
system and correct the glitches. Four companies responded, and one
later withdrew.
Keating was appointed to the board of AMS in mid-October, according to
a company announcement.
On April 13, a negotiating team including members of the DCF and the
Department of Management Services selected AMS even though another
company, CIBER Inc. of Colorado, offered a proposal costing $4.5
million less.
AMS's bid included additional services that CIBER did not, the DCF
said in a letter to CIBER's attorney.
CIBER filed a protest in June, alleging that the DCF did not follow
the proper bidding process and chose a proposal that differed
dramatically from the department's description of the job.
The company also claims in letters to the DCF that in awarding the
contract to AMS, Florida risks having to repay the federal government
millions of dollars for money already spent on HomeSafenet because
AMS's approach would significantly modify work the federal government
already paid for.
The DCF repeatedly referred to the liability issue in its request for
price quotes for the project, insisting that the chosen company would
have to share in the repayment if the work violated federal
regulations. CIBER indicated that the agency at one point described
the potential risk at $65 million.
But DCF spokesman Spann said that "there is no impact upon federal
dollars incurred as long as functionality is seamlessly woven with the
existing HomeSafenet system."
AMS, which has developed a child welfare computer system in Wisconsin
that other states are replicating, referred questions about the
federal repayment issue to the DCF.
In May, AMS merged with CGI, a Canadian firm, and Keating is no longer
involved with the new company. Keating's last AMS board meeting was
Feb. 27 and his tenure on the board formally ended May 3, Mahoney
said.
Social workers and legislators have generally regarded HomeSafenet as
a fiasco.
It was originally set to be completed in 1998, and the cost ballooned
from an estimated $32 million to more than $200 million.
Harris is the latest in a string of controversial managers overseeing
the system.
In a May 11 letter to the ethics commission, Harris, who earns about
$110,000 a year, asked whether it was appropriate for him to travel to
Sydney on June 16-17 to speak at a computer conference. InterSystems
Corp., a Massachusetts company that developed a key software program
used by the DCF, "will be paying my travel, lodging, food, and
beverage expenses," Harris wrote.
In addition, Terrapinn invited him to speak at a conference in
Melbourne Aug. 31-Sept. 2. The company has no contracts with DCF but
offered to pay Harris' airfare and hotel bill.
The ethics commission informed Harris on May 20 that he would not be
"prohibited from speaking at these conferences" as long as he used
vacation time and filed the proper disclosure forms.
Murman, the Republican legislator, said that while the ethics
commission may technically have been correct, "there needs to be no
appearance that there is some kind of conflict."
"I think the best judgment would have been to make sure you pay for
your own trips no matter what," she said.
Under a code of ethics Bush instituted for his administrators,
employees "may not accept benefits of any sort under circumstances in
which it could be inferred by a reasonable observer that the benefit
was intended to influence a pending or future decision of theirs, or
to reward a past decision."
InterSystems is paid about $500,000 a year by the DCF and $300,000 by
the state Department of Health, according to the company.
John McCormick, InterSystems' chief operating officer, said the
company invited Harris, as well DCF Information Technology Director
Glenn Palmiere, to speak to the company's clients at the Sydney event,
as well as at a couple of other meetings. The men talked about how DCF
used InterSystems software in an innovative project that earned them a
major award from Computerworld, an industry newspaper.
"If you're a company that is not Microsoft or Oracle or IBM, to get
publicity of this type is an incredible opportunity," McCormick said.
McCormick said he was aware that Florida officials had questioned
Harris and Palmiere about the trips.
"I was quite surprised," he said, noting that the ethics commission
had approved the travel. "We don't believe we did anything
inappropriate," he said. "We wouldn't. We've been in business for 26
years."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cdcf01jul01,0,7569195.story?coll=sfla-news-front
Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at http://www.aclu.org/action.
By Megan O'Matz, Mark Hollis
and Sally Kestin Staff Writers
Posted July 1 2004
Florida's chief inspector general in Gov. Jeb Bush's office is
investigating a $21 million state Department of Children & Families
contract to fix the agency's problem-plagued computer system and a top
employee's trip paid for by a software company, state Rep. Sandra
Murman said.
Alia Faraj, Bush's spokeswoman, confirmed that a "whistle-blower"
investigation is under way but would not provide details about the
issues under review.
"There is an investigation being conducted by the governor's inspector
general," Faraj said. "It would be inappropriate for us to comment on
an ongoing investigation."
A high-ranking state official, who asked not to be identified for fear
of jeopardizing his job, said he provided information to the Inspector
General's Office that the DCF, under Secretary Jerry Regier, awarded a
$21 million computer contract to American Management Systems, a
Virginia company in which former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating was a
board member. Regier served in Keating's cabinet before coming to
Florida in 2002 and Keating recommended Regier for the DCF job.
Gregory L. Coler, AMS's lobbyist in Tallahassee who served as the
state's social services chief until 1991, said Regier and Ben Harris,
the DCF's deputy secretary for operations and technology, "recused"
themselves from the award process. Keating, he said, played no role in
securing the contract.
The state official also said that he questioned the appropriateness of
a trip that Harris took two weeks ago to Sydney, Australia, in the
information he provided to the inspector general. The trip was paid
for by InterSystems Corp., a software company doing business with the
DCF. Harris planned a second trip to Australia in August paid for by
another company, Terrapinn, that puts on trade exhibitions and
conferences. That company does no work for the DCF.
While the state Commission on Ethics cleared the trips, Bush policy
forbids employees from accepting "benefits" from people or companies
that do business with the state or could in the future.
The state official said the investigation appeared to already be under
way when he contacted the Inspector General's Office, likely stemming
from a complaint made by a DCF employee.
Murman, a Tampa Republican who leads the House Subcommittee on Human
Services Appropriation, which oversees the DCF, said the Inspector
General's Office is expected to release its findings within a few
weeks. The office investigates allegations of misconduct, waste and
fraud.
Harris could not be reached for comment despite a call to his office,
an e-mail message and requests made through a DCF spokesman to
interview him.
Regier declined a request for an interview. Department spokesman Bill
Spann said Regier "has never discussed the award or the process with
Frank Keating, and was not even aware that he was involved with AMS
until recently."
Keating was vacationing in Alaska and could not be reached, but a
spokesman said that the former governor and Regier hadn't talked in at
least a year.
"He put in a good word for him with Gov. Bush's office when Jerry was
hired, but that's about it," said Dan Mahoney of the American Council
of Life Insurers, headed by Keating.
As a Cabinet secretary for Keating, Regier helped reform Oklahoma's
Health Department, which was dealing with a scandal over paid
employees not showing up for work.
Bush hired him to overhaul the DCF after it was battered with
criticism over reports of dead and missing children, backlogged abuse
investigations and a record-keeping system so sloppy that the agency
inadvertently auctioned off confidential files to the public.
Regier, in turn, tapped Harris, 28, a fellow Oklahoman, to fix
Florida's much-maligned computer system, HomeSafenet, a project that
is more than seven years behind schedule and has cost taxpayers tens
of millions more than expected.
HomeSafenet was intended to modernize the social services agency,
replacing a patchwork of paper files and a half-dozen different
computer systems. Caseworkers began using the new system several years
ago but complained vigorously about difficulties in entering and
finding data. The system has crashed on occasion, leaving workers at
times without access to records for hours.
On Oct. 31, the agency solicited proposals to complete work on the
system and correct the glitches. Four companies responded, and one
later withdrew.
Keating was appointed to the board of AMS in mid-October, according to
a company announcement.
On April 13, a negotiating team including members of the DCF and the
Department of Management Services selected AMS even though another
company, CIBER Inc. of Colorado, offered a proposal costing $4.5
million less.
AMS's bid included additional services that CIBER did not, the DCF
said in a letter to CIBER's attorney.
CIBER filed a protest in June, alleging that the DCF did not follow
the proper bidding process and chose a proposal that differed
dramatically from the department's description of the job.
The company also claims in letters to the DCF that in awarding the
contract to AMS, Florida risks having to repay the federal government
millions of dollars for money already spent on HomeSafenet because
AMS's approach would significantly modify work the federal government
already paid for.
The DCF repeatedly referred to the liability issue in its request for
price quotes for the project, insisting that the chosen company would
have to share in the repayment if the work violated federal
regulations. CIBER indicated that the agency at one point described
the potential risk at $65 million.
But DCF spokesman Spann said that "there is no impact upon federal
dollars incurred as long as functionality is seamlessly woven with the
existing HomeSafenet system."
AMS, which has developed a child welfare computer system in Wisconsin
that other states are replicating, referred questions about the
federal repayment issue to the DCF.
In May, AMS merged with CGI, a Canadian firm, and Keating is no longer
involved with the new company. Keating's last AMS board meeting was
Feb. 27 and his tenure on the board formally ended May 3, Mahoney
said.
Social workers and legislators have generally regarded HomeSafenet as
a fiasco.
It was originally set to be completed in 1998, and the cost ballooned
from an estimated $32 million to more than $200 million.
Harris is the latest in a string of controversial managers overseeing
the system.
In a May 11 letter to the ethics commission, Harris, who earns about
$110,000 a year, asked whether it was appropriate for him to travel to
Sydney on June 16-17 to speak at a computer conference. InterSystems
Corp., a Massachusetts company that developed a key software program
used by the DCF, "will be paying my travel, lodging, food, and
beverage expenses," Harris wrote.
In addition, Terrapinn invited him to speak at a conference in
Melbourne Aug. 31-Sept. 2. The company has no contracts with DCF but
offered to pay Harris' airfare and hotel bill.
The ethics commission informed Harris on May 20 that he would not be
"prohibited from speaking at these conferences" as long as he used
vacation time and filed the proper disclosure forms.
Murman, the Republican legislator, said that while the ethics
commission may technically have been correct, "there needs to be no
appearance that there is some kind of conflict."
"I think the best judgment would have been to make sure you pay for
your own trips no matter what," she said.
Under a code of ethics Bush instituted for his administrators,
employees "may not accept benefits of any sort under circumstances in
which it could be inferred by a reasonable observer that the benefit
was intended to influence a pending or future decision of theirs, or
to reward a past decision."
InterSystems is paid about $500,000 a year by the DCF and $300,000 by
the state Department of Health, according to the company.
John McCormick, InterSystems' chief operating officer, said the
company invited Harris, as well DCF Information Technology Director
Glenn Palmiere, to speak to the company's clients at the Sydney event,
as well as at a couple of other meetings. The men talked about how DCF
used InterSystems software in an innovative project that earned them a
major award from Computerworld, an industry newspaper.
"If you're a company that is not Microsoft or Oracle or IBM, to get
publicity of this type is an incredible opportunity," McCormick said.
McCormick said he was aware that Florida officials had questioned
Harris and Palmiere about the trips.
"I was quite surprised," he said, noting that the ethics commission
had approved the travel. "We don't believe we did anything
inappropriate," he said. "We wouldn't. We've been in business for 26
years."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cdcf01jul01,0,7569195.story?coll=sfla-news-front
Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at http://www.aclu.org/action.