Report: Nonprofit broke rules
Mortgage aid firm gave no-bid pacts
WASHINGTON — A Nevada nonprofit running the state’s program to help homeowners struggling with mortgages violated its own policies and awarded contracts without competitive bids, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said Thursday.
The Nevada program was singled out by the special inspector general, Christy Goldsmith Romero. But she said nationally, most of the Hardest Hit Fund has no federal requirements for competition, even though millions of dollars have and will be awarded.
“SIGTARP found that the contractor running Nevada’s Hardest Hit Fund program recently awarded six(-)figure contracts without request for proposals — a violation of the contractor’s own policies,” Goldsmith Romero said.
With $2.3 billion in federal money available to be spent by 19 state agencies until 2021, Goldsmith Romero said, the Treasury Department should apply taxpayer protections and federal procurement standards to the Hardest Hit Fund.
The Nevada Hardest Hit Fund is administered by the Nevada Affordable Housing Assistance Corp. Verise Campbell, the nonprofit’s CEO, said she believes there was compliance with Hardest Hit Fund program requirements and contracts were executed following a prescribed process.
She said an information technology vendor was selected sole-source due to success with the same program in California.
“All contracts entered into were done so with full transparency and vote of the NAHAC board of directors during the course of publicly noticed meetings,” Campbell said in a statement.
“NAHAC’S CEO is not a voting member of the Board of Directors and did not participate in the voting process to approve vendor contracts,” her statement read.
A 2016 audit by the special inspector general found the nonprofit had squandered $8.2
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and services during e-commerce and financial technology conferences in the area.
Built in the 1950s, the building was bought by Lapour Partners of Las Vegas and redeveloped in 2004. Lapour finished renovations the following year, but the project filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization during the Great Recession.
Lapour expects to finish a four-building project at the southeast corner of Craig and Walnut roads in North Las Vegas in August, leasing director Lisa Chasteen said. NS8 has signed a five-year lease for about 13,000 square feet. The former factory is about 46,000 square feet in total.
The company also expects to finish an eight-building development at the northeast corner of Executive Airport Drive and Bruner Avenue, just west of Henderson Executive Airport, in August.
Contact Wade Tyler Millward at wmillward@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4602. Follow @wademillward on Twitter.