A Michigan company has filed a lawsuit against a municipal organization, alleging that the group rigged the competitive bid process or a workforce development services contract. The plaintiff, Human Investment and Development Corporation, alleges that the Genesee/Shiawassee Michigan Works group used unfair business practices when it chose another company to perform the development activities. The suit argues that the municipal agency, which had been known as Career Alliance, gave the $2.1 million contract to Action Management only after Michigan Works stopped using a blind bid process.
That group had employed a blind bidding process for decades, allowing businesses to fairly pursue government contracts through the organization. Human Investment only started to lose its contracts when the blind bidding was eliminated; that is, the decision-makers could identify each bidder by name. Even though Human Investment had a proud history in the area, providing assistance for workplace programs for decades, it now only holds a single contract for $300,000.
Michigan Works is accuse of meeting secretly with administrators from Action Management, conspiring to edge Human Investment out of the contract process. Human Investment claims that they were hindered from fairly participating in the competitive process because these organizations violated ethical restrictions. Michigan Works leaders are even accused of returning to previous bid ratings, lowering them after their initial evaluation of the Human Investment proposal; as a result, Action Management was able to surpass the long-standing company. In fact, Michigan Works is accused of altering proposal scoring systems between contracts in order to exclude particular businesses.
Human Investment claims that the unfair business practices forced the dismissal of more than 20 hard-working employees.
Business practices and legal restrictions prohibit organizations from discriminatory hiring and contract management practices. This Michigan organization should be held accountable for failing to protect the integrity of the competitive bid process, which is designed to be objective and provide high value for taxpayer investments. Leaders who choose to bypass these ethical mandates should be subject to criminal and civil penalties for their poor decision-making.
Source: www.mlive.com, "Lawsuit: Vendor claims Genesee/Shiawassee Michigan Works rigged bids to favor certain businesses" Gary Ridley, Oct. 29, 2013
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