Report: ‘Undue influence’ steered IT contracts
Two highly paid state consultants working under no-bid contracts apparently rigged contracts to steer them to one of their companies, according to state investigators.
The consultants “may have colluded” to land two contracts paying nearly $469,000, with Ohio Inspector General Randall J. Meyer suggesting in an investigative report they should be barred from ever again receiving state work.
Citing “undue influence,” the fixing of the pair of contracts awarded by the Department of Administrative Services led to the spending of at least $129,119 more in taxpayer dollars than necessary, the report said.
Some details about the questioned contracts were uncovered by The Dispatch last year in its investigation of top state information-technology officials improperly routing more than $17 million in overpriced, no-bid contracts to Advocate Solutions, a Columbus company, and Stonyhurst Consulting, of Middleburg, Virginia.
A senior administrative services IT official expressed alarm about the appearance of impropriety on one deal, but he ultimately forwarded the contract, which he later said “stinks,” for approval.
Meyer’s report released Thursday centered on the conduct of former Advocate consultant Peter Quinn and Stonyhurst co-owner Steven Zielenski and his employee Cynthia Afkhami in landing contracts for Stonyhurst for IT work at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation beginning in 2015.
In the first contract, Quinn — who was sent to direct work at the workers’ compensation agency by now-retired Chief Information Officer Stuart Davis — worked with Afkhami “to tailor position specifications toward a specific individual” to ensure Stonyhurst employee Greg McCoy was hired in May 2016, the report said. The hiring occurred even though McCoy already was working for another company with a state contract.
Without involving bureau officials, Quinn and Afkhami “preselected” McCoy, wrote the specifications for the work he would perform, created candidate criteria and conducted the interviews of McCoy and other applicants. They then worked to ensure Department of Administrative Services officials approved the contract hiring McCoy for $180 an hour — $55 an hour more than the next qualified candidate, the report said. Stonyhurst ultimately was paid $68,625 under the contract.
Tom Croyle, chief technology officer at the administrative services agency, discussed his concerns over the propriety of the contract with Davis, but later gave the OK to advance it for approval once he spoke with workers compensation officials who felt they needed McCoy’s services, the report said.
The report said that Dale Hamilton, chief operations officer at workers’ compensation, told two subordinates “to keep Quinn and Afkhami happy and taken care of ” after they questioned the preselection of McCoy. The two workers said Hamilton then told them, “Do you want to be fired now or six months from now?”
In the second contract, Meyer’s investigators dug into the hiring of Stonyhurst’s Afkhami as an IT consultant at the workers’ compensation bureau in 2015, finding Quinn “preselected” Afkhami and Zielinski submitted an unsolicited proposal to hire her. Quinn and Zielinski then attempted to circumvent state purchasing procedures to hire Afkhami through a no-bid contract, the report said.
After state analysts objected and bids were sought for the position, Quinn developed the job specifications and candidate selection process “to ensure Afkhami was the selected candidate,” the report said. Stonyhurst ultimately was paid $400,155 at a rate of $185 an hour — $108,150 more than would have been paid to the next qualified candidate at $135 an hour.
Bureau of Workers’ Compensation officials canceled both contracts in August 2016 and handed the consultants’ one-time duties to in-house staff. Bureau officials said Afkhami started “floundering” in her job and McCoy produced minimal work, the report said.
Meyer found state officials allowed the consultants to exert inappropriate influence, violated purchasing policies and again recommending the tightening of state purchasing procedures. Information-technology officials at administrative services were stripped of authority to approve contracts after The Dispatch investigation, and the state has revamped procedures it says ensures no-bid contracts are not awarded.
An audit by Ohio Auditor Dave Yost and a prior investigation by Meyer confirmed the findings of The Dispatch investigation into the award of no-bid contracts to favored consultants. Advocate employed several former administrative services information-technology officials.
Department of Administrative Services spokesman Tom Hoyt declined comment, saying the agency was reviewing the report. Advocate Solutions officials did not respond to messages. Stonyhurst co-owner Zielinski declined to comment. Quinn, now chief information officer for New York City schools, could not be reached for comment.