Parker: Inertia, embarrassment keep city from dealing with problem vendor
Last month Isiah Carey highlighted the problem of a city vendor that has been audited several times, the results of each suggesting the city has been overpaying for services and products.
Today, the Chronicle's Matt Stiles continues the story, detailing the city's seeming inaction in dealing with the vendor:
Last summer, the city's top finance official demanded nearly $1 million in restitution from a local contractor after three audits and a police investigation concluded that several departments paid too much for high-tech gadgets and services.
Yet the city has continued doing business with the contractor, Texas Procurement Center.
Late last week — faced with pressure from City Controller Annise Parker and inquiries by the Houston Chronicle — city officials acknowledged that transactions with TPC have not been documented well enough to support recovery of more than a fraction of the restitution demanded last year.
City Attorney Arturo Michel said that the $968,000 demand sent by Judy Gray Johnson, the city's finance and administration director, was "probably premature from a legal perspective of what you can recover in court."
He said the city, which is still considering legal action, might be able to recover only about $70,000.
That's because the contract with TPC did not require the company to provide detailed records, Michel said, and because city employees approved years of payments without seeking adequate documentation.
There's much more in Stiles' story, which should anger Houston taxpayers. As of now, the city is weighing whether or not to terminate the contract with TPC and pursue legal action.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/11/07 06:14 PM | Print |
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