Tiny School Gets No-Bid Work From Homeland Security (sole source for intel

analysts)

http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=669&sid=200

Tiny School Gets No-Bid Work From Homeland Security
Agency deems Mercyhurst College the sole source to provide training for intelligence analysts

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2005 — A tiny college located in the hometown of ex-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is negotiating a no-bid contract to train intelligence analysts for the sprawling agency. In doing so, the agency is short-circuiting a selection process that would normally include a host of bigger and better known institutions already working in that field such as George Washington University and Georgetown University.

Late last month, the Department of Homeland Security filed notice it was entering into negotiations on a sole source basis with Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., to develop and run an intelligence analyst certificate program for the department. Mercyhurst is a liberal arts, private, Catholic school located on the eastern shore of Lake Erie. The school has an enrollment of about 3,100.

(A new academic building scheduled to open this fall on a satellite campus of the college will be named the Tom and Michele Ridge Health and Safety Building. School officials say the decision to name the building in honor of the Ridges was made several years ago when the Erie native, who was then governor of Pennsylvania, helped secure $2 million in financing for the project. )

The total cost of the contract could not be determined from the few details released by DHS about the deal.


Mercyhurst College plans to name a new academic building after former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and his wife, Michele.

The contracting officer handling the Mercyhurst deal for DHS said she was not at liberty to discuss any details, but said that "a number of other vendors" had expressed an interest in bidding on the project after the sole source notification became public on February 25.


<snip>

Mercyhurst seems to have a penchant for secrecy. It has a long standing policy of not releasing the names of the members of its board of trustees, according to Mary Daly, the board's secretary. She said the names of members are only released with the approval of the chair of the trustees or the college president.

Mercyhurst recently received more than its share of unwanted headlines when at least six men came forward to accuse President William P. Garvey of sexually abusing them when they were minors, in the 1960s, '70s and '80s. Garvey denied the charges but resigned on Feb. 23; the college is in the process of finding a new president.

Was it legal?
One government contract expert said the deal is highly unusual and might be "illegal."

"It seems to have all the indications of a political payoff of some kind," said Alan Grayson, director of the Grayson & Kubli law firm, which represents clients on government contract issues. "There are specific rules on what qualifies for a sole-source contract, and those rules don't seem to even remotely apply in this case."

In order to properly issue a sole-source contract, Grayson said, DHS needs to effectively prove there is only one "responsible" source for a good or service, and no other vendor will satisfy the agency's requirements. He said that under federal contract regulations, "responsible" simply means that if an award is made to a contractor, the contractor can be expected actually to do that work.

"George Washington and Georgetown clearly are responsible sources," said Grayson. "Saying that there is only one source for these services looks like quite a stretch."

Grayson added that DHS and other federal agencies are increasingly using sole-source contracts, often citing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as a reason.

"The regulations contain pretty specific rules on when the exceptions can be applied, and when they can't," Grayson said. "The exceptions are meant for specific situations where there might be companies with certain patents or copyrights, or where it can be argued it is a matter of national security to go with a certain vendor. Unfortunately, since Sept. 11th DHS and some other agencies have gotten completely carried away in invoking these exceptions where they clearly don't apply."




more...

I thought the title of this thread was a JOKE.. Who the hell is minding the store? Sweet Jesus!

It's called treason, how long will we allow them to get away with it?

Requiring all their intelligence analysts get trained at the same no-name school, no doubt connected to a Bush crony?

I can't even imagine the rationale for requiring a homogeneous education regime among its analysts -- seems to me you'd want as wide a range of experiences as possible for intelligence analysts.

This will ensure that they won't have a fricken clue what's actually going on.

Loyalty to the regime has truly become more important than competence.

And the best part is, all the parties, all the terms, all the reasons, all the pros and cons, are top secret. The private school has no public information, Homeland Security has no public information. Think something is hinky with the deal? Well, PROVE it! Prove this catholic liberal arts college with enrollment of 3000 isn't the very best place in the world for this program! PROVE Tom Ridge's hometown is somehow relevant to him!

Millions for corruption, not security. His monetary gain is our risk.

Democrats in Congress are questioning a small no-bid contract that the Department of Homeland Security recently awarded to a college in Erie, Pa., the hometown of Tom Ridge, the former department secretary.

The contract, with Mercyhurst College, has a maximum value of $96,000, a tiny sum for a department that expects to buy $11 billion in goods and services this fiscal year.
...
The chairwoman of the college's trustees, Marlene Mosco, and her husband are longtime friends of Mr. Ridge, and a profile published by Mercyhurst describes her as co-chairwoman of his state finance committee when he ran for Pennsylvania governor, the post he held before coming to Washington.

Mercyhurst is also constructing a new academic building named for Mr. Ridge and his wife, Michele, because he supported state financing for it as governor.

http://nytimes.com/2005/03/19/politics/19HOME.html

and this conforms to the First Amendment how?

http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=669&sid=200

"He said the DHS training director subsequently informed the college that he had discussed the certificate program with his boss, who had told him to go ahead with a prototype program with DHS starting in March 2005."

They want to bypass the Ivy Leagues and GW, Georgetown in favor of ideologues.

and a payoff to santorum...

Nothing to do with academic integrity... the school really sucks as far as academics are concerned.