Crony statism: Ex-Texas health official defends no-bid contracts

A top Texas health official who resigned amid questions over $110 million in no-bid contracts says the Austin tech company he hired offered a better product than competitors and followed the rules.

Jack Stick, former chief counsel for Texas Health and Human Services, resigned Friday after officials concluded that work outsourced to 21CT was awarded unfairly. The agency also canceled the contracts.

His resignation came after an investigation by the Austin American-Statesman found that Stick and other state officials eagerly tried to get 21CT to revamp efforts to identify Medicaid fraud. Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the state's health agency, said 21CT avoided the usual competitive bid process because it was the only company that offered a technology Stick had presented as the future of fraud investigations.

"21CT has been successful in meeting or exceeding the terms and conditions of its contract with the state," Stick told the newspaper in an email. "No one has questioned that relationship except you, former employees who were fired for ethics violations, employees who did not want to be accountable to the strict performance measures the 21CT project brings, or competitors to 21CT."

Kyle Janek, the state's top health executive, told the newspaper (http://bit.ly/1zlN34E ) in a story published Sunday that the contract was not worth sacrificing the integrity of the agency.

Stick had been earning more than $200,000 a year after being promoted to the agency's top lawyer job in February.

Irene Williams, chief executive of 21CT, defended its deals with Texas and said 21CT has fallen victim to efforts by bigger companies that wanted the tech firm's business.

The contract between the inspector general and 21CT was criticized last month as "generic" and vague by a director at the Department of Information Resources, the state's clearinghouse for agencies that want to buy everything from iPads to multimillion-dollar software.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article4479988.html
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Crony statism: Ex-Texas health official defends no-bid contracts

Crony statism: Ex-Texas health official defends no-bid contracts

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