A special four-member Orange County legislative committee tasked with reviewing a controversial IT contract concluded 10 interviews with involved parties on Nov. 21.
The $800,000-plus contract with StarCIO was brought into the limelight by New York state Democratic Sen. James Skoufis and four Democratic county legislators, who alleged at a Nov. 8 press conference that the deal was mired in a corruption scheme involving high-level officials.
In the wake of the allegations, the county legislature formed the bipartisan review committee, chaired by Kevin Hines and comprised of Thomas Faggione, Robert Sassi, and Kevindaryán Luján.
Interviewees include County Executive Steve Neuhaus, Deputy County Executive Harry Porr, County Attorney Richard Golden, County Director of Operations Alicia D’Amico, and four county legislators alleging corruption: Mike Paduch, Mike Anagnostakis, Genesis Ramos, and Laurie Tautel.
During the interview, Ms. Ramos, the Democratic lawmaker who took the initiative to look into the contract, said the tip came to her from Mr. Skoufis, who had gotten wind of it from a whistleblower.
Ms. Ramos declined to disclose the whistleblower over concern of retaliation.
StarCIO’s single proprietary owner, Issac Sacolick, is the brother-in-law of Langdon Chapman, the county human resources commissioner and former county attorney.
“Having a relationship isn’t the main issue, but rather the obscene amount of money this contract is for, by way of connection,” Ms. Ramos said at the interview, adding that as the contract bloomed to over $800,000 over several short months, no competitive bidding was ever done.
Several county officials disputed any misconduct in the contract and said the procurement was done in accordance with the state law and county policy governing professional services.
For the original StarCIO contract of $65,000, county policy requires a solicitation of three quotes, which did happen; the following contract extensions and amendments were not subject to competitive bidding under the continuity exemption, according to Mr. Golden at the interview.
“If this is part of our policy, and it is correct—which I don’t feel it is—then that is something we as a legislative body need to look at,” Ms. Tautel, a democratic county lawmaker, said at the interview.
“Going forward, that should be something that we change within our procurement policy because I don’t think it is the best practice for us and for our taxpayers in Orange County.”
“Certainly, the executive branch would take into consideration any recommendations of the legislature,” Mr. Golden said during the interview. “You can modify the thresholds, and you can modify the exemptions that are listed in there for procurement services, but I just caution you that you have to worry always about unintended consequences in making those changes.”
How StarCIO Was Chosen
The hiring of StarCIO took place when the county had just lost its commissioner of general services and IT to a neighboring government, and the new commissioner, having been promoted from the procurement track, had little experience in information technology.It also happened when existing county IT contracts, on whom millions of dollars had been spent, were not performing as expected, and potential cyber threats loomed around the corner, according to the interviews.
“We needed a quick turnaround, and we needed a quick assessment and roadmap,” said Ms. D’Amico, who heard of StarCIO from Mr. Chapman, vetted it, and passed it along with other quotes to General Services Commissioner Samantha Sweikata.
Mr. Chapman said he played no role in the decision-making regarding the contract.
Ms. Sweikata said StarCIO was chosen over other quotes, mainly obtained from piggybacking other governmental contracts, because of its on-site availability and breadth of services.
Auto-Renewals and Exempt Amendments
“When you look at the invoices that blow through the two months rapidly, which could lead someone to assume that it was worth more than $65,000 from the get-go,” Mr. Hines said to Mr. Golden at the interview.
Ms. Sweikata and Ms. D’Amico said they thought StarCIO would only be needed for two months. Still, the unfolding situation thereafter called for continued retention of Mr. Sacolick, including a key public safety IT infrastructure program that had been moving slowly, partly because of understaffing—one planned new deputy hire went for another job at the last minute.
The first amendment, signed in early July, extended the organizational IT oversight services by Mr. Sacolick for four more periods and brought in a new manager under him to focus on the public safety program, bringing the total contract value with StarCIO up to $608,400.
In August, the county signed the second amendment with StarCIO to add a second program manager under Mr. Sacolick to work on countywide IT infrastructure programs, resulting in an accumulative contract of $816,400 with the company.
Neither contract amendment is subject to competitive bidding under the continuity exemption for professional services in the county procurement policy, which, according to Ms. Sweikata, has also been a standard operating procedure over her past 13 years working in county procurement.
Mr. Neuhaus said at the interview that he thought the contract with StarCIO was pricey and had questioned his staff about it when he signed the second amendment.
The county legislature moved in September to create a new IT department and a new position of chief information officer, with an active job posting with a salary range between $200,000 and $225,000.
On Nov. 21, the personnel and compensation committee approved the hiring of Glenn Marchi as county chief information officer, which will head to the full legislature for a decision in early December.
