State auditors say the agency that oversees Maryland’s prisons structured a multimillion-dollar 2012 contract for commissary services in a way that stifled competition and limited the bidding to a single company.
The actions described in a recent report by the Office of Legislative Audits occurred under the previous administration.
The Board of Public Works approved the contract for Keefe Commissary Network of Edison, N.J., in 2012. The deal was structured in a complex way that made it difficult to put a value on the overall deal, auditors said. But they said it was estimated that it would bring in almost $16 million in revenue for the state over a five-year period.
When public safety officials put together a request for proposals from potential contract bidders, auditors said, they lumped the job of running the commissaries, at which inmates buy goods, together with the task of setting up an information technology system for a bank for inmates.
Auditors found the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services also added in a procurement contract for “inmate welfare kits” with toiletries and other necessities.
When prospective bidders asked department officials whether they could bid on the various items individually, they were told no, auditors said. The result was that the state received one bid — from Keefe.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Michael Dresser over at the Baltimore Sun
