End no-bid jail maintenance contract
Mecklenburg Sheriff Irwin Carmichael has asked his staff to help him decide if he should put a $7-million-a-year jail maintenance contract up for competitive bidding.
That’s easy. Barring some unforeseen legal hiccup, of course he should.
Here’s the better question our sheriff, elected just last year, should be asking: Why wasn’t a deal this big put up for bid in the first place?
Former Mecklenburg Sheriff Jim Pendergraph told the Observer’s Ames Alexander that, when he first decided to outsource jail maintenance in 1996, he gave the job to The Keith Corp. without competitive bidding because he didn’t know of other companies that could do the work.
Sure, that was before the Google-knows-everything online search era, but a little legwork would have undoubtedly turned up other companies. His successor, Chipp Bailey, has said he saw no reason to change course because The Keith Corp. was doing a good job. So good, in fact, that the two sheriffs let the contract automatically renew itself annually.
Now Carmichael surely must be wondering how this contract looks in light of the controversy over an FBI probe into The Keith Corp.’s effort to win state prison maintenance contracts.
Graeme Keith Sr., the company’s chairman, allegedly told state prison officials in a meeting that he’d given money to politicians and that it was time for his firm to get something in return. One of those politicians was his friend Gov. Pat McCrory, who made the mistake of personally brokering the meeting.
Keith Corp. officials have proven generous with sheriff’s campaigns as well – including Carmichael’s, which received $3,505. That in and of itself doesn’t prove there’s anything amiss, but when it comes to deep-pocketed donors who also happen to want government contracts, how the situation looks can be as important as what it actually is.
Plus, there’s this nugget: When Mecklenburg County re-bid maintenance contracts for non-jail facilities last year, three other companies won the work. They do it for about $5 million a year less than The Keith Corp.’s proposal.
The sheriff’s office’s contract with The Keith Corp. allows either side to cancel it with 90 days written notice.
Asked Monday whether the sheriff is still trying to decide what to do about this, Chief Deputy Felicia McAdoo told the editorial board: “If and when the matter comes up for review, the sheriff and his executive staff will have a discussion regarding how to proceed.”
It appears the company has done a good job with Mecklenburg’s jails. Still, it seems clear what needs to happen next.
Cancel the contract. Put it up for bid. If The Keith Corp. is indeed the best company for the job, its leaders shouldn’t mind proving it.
This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 6:17 PM with the headline "End no-bid jail maintenance contract."