Only in the District, with double-digit unemployment, would officials award a foreign-based company a multimillion-dollar contract. Only in this city can a simple business certification devolve into high drama.
Is it time to click the ruby slippers? Even Kansas has to be better.
When Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi attempted last year to award the city’s lottery contract, there was a fracas. Mayor Adrian Fenty favored W2I, whose partners included Greek-based Intralot. Some legislators favored joint venture Lottery Technology Enterprise/G-Tech. The CFO conducted a fair process, but a do-over was mandated.
Round two is a mess.
Gandhi selected Intralot, sans local partners. Further, the company wasn’t the lowest bidder, and its proposal was rated one point higher than that of its nearest competitor, the newly formed D.C. Lottery Partners/G-Tech.
CFO spokesman David Umansky said Intralot was selected “based on the best value determination” and would “provide the best technical solution moving the District Lottery forward.”
But, Intralot may have gained an edge when Lee Smith, head of the department of small and local business, and Attorney General Peter J. Nickles’ office inexplicably derailed DCLP’s joint venture certification. (Certification would’ve meant 12 additional points, ensuring DCLP’s selection.)
Here’s the story Smith, DCLP and other sources told me.
Staff at the small-business department gave provisional certification to DCLP, whose participants include Darryl Wiggins; his company Document Managers; Lorraine Green, a former head of the D.C. Lottery; lawyer Rod Woodson; and Doug Patton, a former D.C. deputy mayor for planning and economic development. But on July 16, Smith overruled his staff.
Staff at the small-business department gave provisional certification to DCLP, whose participants include Darryl Wiggins; his company Document Managers; Lorraine Green, a former head of the D.C. Lottery; lawyer Rod Woodson; and Doug Patton, a former D.C. deputy mayor for planning and economic development. But on July 16, Smith overruled his staff.
“After we did our due diligence, I didn’t believe Mr. Wiggins’ company could fulfill the contract,” Smith said.
But the CFO — not Smith’s agency — was charged with evaluating lottery bids. Moreover, Smith conceded that no one on his staff had expertise in lottery management.
DCLP requested a hearing before the Small Business Opportunity Commission. That group convened Oct. 13 but quickly adjourned until “the [attorney general’s] office could attend to argue against DCLP’s certification,” according to a government source. It is not clear why Nickles became involved.
A second hearing occurred Oct. 27. The commission voted 3-2 to rescind Smith’s decision. The story doesn’t end there, however.
The attorney general then ruled that vote invalid: One member’s term had expired, and a replacement had been sworn in Oct. 26, Smith said. Yet another hearing was held Nov. 10. This time commissioners voted to reject DCLP’s certification.
Raise your hand if you think the fix was in.
Wiggins, a native Washingtonian who has been in business for more than two decades, wouldn’t “hazard to guess what’s going on,” he said. “I don’t get involved with making deals. I get up every day, go to work and see my clients.”
In a letter dated Nov. 20 to commission chairman Alberto Gomez, Wiggins said DCLP didn’t receive notification of that third meeting and asked for a reversal of the decision, or formal notification of the decision “so [DCLP] can consider and pursue its options.”
This entire mess comes before the council Tuesday. Any bets on a third do-over?
