Вы находитесь на странице: 1из 2

Location: 519 Central NW PO Box 26206, Albuquerque, NM 87125 Phone: 505.243.0027 Fax: 505.346.1635 Visit our website at www.quote-unquote.

org

For Immediate Release May 7, 2012 Contact: Steve Ranieri, Executive Director, Quote-Unquote Media Center (505) 243-0027. QUOTEUNQUOTE INC. CALLS ON CITY INSPECTOR GENERAL TO CONDUCT AN INVESTIGATION INTO BERRY ADMINISTRATIONS HANDLING OF ACCESS TELEVISION SERVICES PROCUREMENT PROCESS State Auditors Office Confirms Matter Has Been Referred to Their Office ALBUQUERQUE, NMQuoteUnquote Inc. (QUQ), the nonprofit operator of public access channels 27 and 26, today called on the City of Albuquerques Office of Inspector General to launch an investigation into whether the City violated the procurement code in its handling of the RFP issued in July 2011 to operate access television services. The list of violations includes: Twice extending the deadline in which to submit responses to the RFP, when only QUQ responded in a timely manner; the Citys CAO meeting with the bidder who was eventually recommended by the mayors ad hoc evaluation committee months before the RFP was even issued, while the current contract holders repeated requests for meetings with CAO Rob Perry were rebuffed; one of the members of the ad hoc evaluation committee also sits on the IPEG committee, and runs one of the PEG channels, a conflict of interest; the recommended bidder submitted a bid 43% higher than the amount allocated by City Council for access television services in fiscal year 2011-2012. It was the highest bid amongst the 6 respondents; the Berry Administration has stated the recommended bid final contract will be negotiated, which excludes potential bidders who thought the allocated amount was a fixed quantity; the recommended bidder has failed to air a single hour of programming under its current contract to operate the Education channel 95; the City Administration ignoring that the Cable Franchise & Hearing Board is the sole government body authorized by City ordinance # 13-5-2-1 to make recommendations to the Mayor and Council for the best use of the public, educational and government PEG Channels and ignoring that on January 5th the Cable Board voted unanimously for QUQ to keep the contract through 2017. The Cable Boards recommendation was merely recorded by City Council as receipt noted and has not been scheduled for a vote while the recommendation of the Mayors ad hoc committee has been scheduled for a vote by the City Council on May 7th.

The Office of Inspector General states part of its mission is to detect fraudin city activities including all city contracts and to propose ways to increase the citys legal, fiscal and ethical accountability to insure that tax payers dollars are spent in a manner consistent with the highest standards of local governments. Under such a stated mission, it is appropriate and imperative that in light of these above stated violations of procurement code and City ordinances, that the Office of Inspector General investigates the City of Albuquerques mishandling of the Access Television Services RFP process. The State Auditors Office confirmed to QuoteUnquote on Friday the 4 th that it is launching an audit of the City with respect to the issues outlined above in addition to other concerns that their office has. With that said, QuoteUnquote has asked the Inspector General to look into the irregularities that took place throughout this entire procurement process. Lawyers for QuoteUnquote have filed a legal response through the Second District Court to the Citys actions regarding the bidding process and other irregularities. This is now pending. Questions should be directed to QuoteUnquotes Executive Director Steve Ranieri (243-0027). Media inquiries, including documents supporting the above list of violations, will be handled promptly.

###

Вам также может понравиться