Company hires Corrections official after winning government contract

Company hires Corrections official after winning multimillion-dollar contract
by Rhonda Cook (Available online here)

Synopsis: In Oct. 2008, the Georgia state Department of Corrections had issued a request for proposal for an EHR system. Nine companies responded. The award was given to BCA whose bid was $8.77 for each of the first 50,000 electronic records. A proposal was issued as a statewide contract to also make it available to Georgia universities, state agencies and local governments.

The total cost of the contract is not yet known, DOAS' Douglas said, because the number of records is uncertain. The first year of the contract, BCA said it would charge Corrections $8.77 for each of the first 50,000 records plus other fees. The per-record price drops as the number of files increases with the additions of more agencies.

The company that finished second, eClinicalWorks, submitted a bid of $3.50 for each of the first 50,000 records plus other fees. So in reality, eClinicalWorks who bid $3.50 for each of the first 50,000 had the top spot!


So why would a company who's bid was more than double that of the second place contender win the RFP?

Business Computer Applications was pushed into the No. 1 spot by the subjective technical scores provided by Alan Adams of the Department of Corrections and six other evaluators.

Cook explains, Adams, a retired part-time corrections official was asked to submit his resume to BCA by a BCA employee. Adams never disclosed this information to the department. The Inspector General wrote "One could infer that by requesting his resume, BCA intended to influence Adams during the course of this solicitation process. Thus, we find the communication improper."

Adams was offered a job and he accepted it less than a month after BCA's winning bid was announced, according to records obtained by the AJC. But Adams told the AJC  that he and BCA agreed to put the job offer "on hold" when the IG's review began on July 9.
Adams said it is unlikely he will ever work for BCA. He started another job on Dec. 1.

Long story short, the award will still stand.

I'm curious, what were the subjective technical scores and how were they subjectively calculated? Did each of the evaluators have their own metrics or did they all collaborate on how to calculate the technical scores? Okay, i'm not that curious... ah the drama of HIT.