UPDATE: Gary Job Corps’s Management Firm Loses Contract, Under Investigation For Health & Safety Issues

A plastic tote covered exposed electrical wires on the floor, bugs and rat feces throughout the clinic and an overall “deteriorating and poor condition” of the health facility itself…

By, Terra Rivers, Managing Editor

**This article will be updated as new information is received.**

After publishing the original story regarding Gary Job Corps Center (GJCC) being under investigation by the Department of Labor’s Office of Investigation, there have been new developments.

In June 2017, the Department of Labor (DOL) launched an investigation into the management of GJCC in San Marcos following a complaint by a former GJCC employee.

The operation and management of job corps centers are contracted out by the DOL to third-party management companies through a competitive bid process.

Management and Training Corporation (MTC) was awarded a one year contract for the management of GJCC in April 2016. The solicitation, offer and reward amount was $10.1 million.

The DOL had awarded a new contract to Adams and Associates, Inc. in October 2017. (See documentation below.)

According to Randolph Goodman, Business Community Liaison for Gary Job Corps, an MTC employee, Management & Training’s contract expired at the end of 2017.

Corridor News reached out to the DOL for information regarding the current situation with the GJCC’s operations management contracts.

After the DOL reviewed the questions, they sent the following statement along with a link to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request form.

“Job Corps follows federal procurement law and applicable law governing the Job Corps program, and conducts competitions to select the best value offeror to operate a center,” said a DOL spokesperson. “Contracts may not be for more than a two-year period, with options to renew the agreement on an annual basis, for not more than three additional years. The Department does not comment on matters involving bid protests.”

Adams and Associates had been moving forward to take over the management of the San Marcos facility of Gary Job Corps Center (GJCC); the company had already been to the facility and interviewed current personnel. The interviews would potentially allow current employees to retain their positions and make a smooth transition for their contract.

According to Randolph Goodman, Business Community Liaison for Gary Job Corps, an MTC employee, “The DOL has informed MTC that their contract could be extended, but only for a maximum of two months at a time.”

Goodman stated in December 1964, the Texas Educational Foundation, Incorporated, a private nonprofit, was awarded a contract to establish the Gary Job Corps Training Center.

The center was managed and run by the Texas Education Foundation until November 2000 when Management and Training Corporation was awarded the contract from the DOL.

According to Goodman, Adams and Associates Inc.’s contract has been contested, and MTC was recently notified that the DOL extended their contract from March 1 – April 30, 2018.

Adams and Associates could not immediately be reached for comment.

Read the full and original story. Documentation can be found below as well.

DOL-Gary Job Corps + Contract Awarded To Adams and Associates

 


 

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11 Comments

  1. Thank you, SM Corridor News, for investigating and printing this much needed information. Citizens of San Marcos and Hays county have been in the dark about Gary Job Corps taxpayer fund misuse.

  2. If Adams and Associates got the award how was MTC able to throw them off the center while people were going through the interview process?

    1. Concerned,

      MTC informed us that Adams & Associates contract had been “contested.”

      Just guessing, but when MTC received the word from DOL that the contract had been formally placed as “contested,” MTC had Adams & Associates removed from the property. There were three bids received by the DOL and their rules allow any of those who placed a losing bid to “contest” the awarded contract.

      Thanks for reading!
      San Marcos Corridor Staff

  3. All federal contract proceeding have a procedural appeal opportunity. Everything can be “contested” or appealed. That’s why the federal ship is slow to change course, even if the course is headed toward a minefield or a bay of icebergs. In many circumstances the appeals are also funded by your tax dollars, though in 2005 a provision was enacted to limit federal funds to aid in contractor legal fees upon appeals.

    “In 2005, Senator Markey included provisions in the Energy Policy Act to limit the circumstances under which DOE contractors could receive federal reimbursement for legal fees and to prevent DOE from indiscriminately reimbursing contractors for legal fees resulting from cases in which they were at fault.”

    https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/markey-to-doe-no-public-funds-for-legal-fees-for-contractors-who-fight-whistleblower-suits_

    But the appeals still get funded by taxpayers funds…13 years later.

    The 360 day window for the ongoing OIG investigation of Gary Job Corps comes to a close in April, almost exactly a year extension/renewal was granted in April 2017. Because the circumstances that generated this investigation were extensive, the OIG requested additional 180 days, from the initial 180 day statutory allotment of time to complete a report.

    I am more than confident, through my sources, information, and understanding the OIG’s report will be unfavorable for MTC to prevail in their “contesting” the contract award to another bidder, in this case, Adams and Associates. There’s too much corroborating evidence in MTC’s improper operation of Gary Job Corps.

    Until the appeal/contest process is complete, about the time the two month extension ends in April 2018, and the 360-day OIG investigation is complete, MTC will be out…it has to be.

    Sadly, the Gary Job Corps operation is now in turmoil, chaos, and unsettled working and learning conditions. The turmoil is now worsened by legal posturing, haranguing, and delay of getting on with it!! Drain this swamp.

  4. They need to be removed for operation of Job Corps. They have created more than safey issues but discrimination as well.

  5. The degree of negative findings by the OIG quite likely will result in not only MTC definitively losing the contract, but charges filed for fraud and corruption. Stay tuned, because this is huge!

  6. “Goodman stated in December 1964, the Texas Educational Foundation, Incorporated, a private nonprofit, was awarded a contract to establish the Gary Job Corps Training Center.

    “The center was managed and run by the Texas Education Foundation until November 2000 when Management and Training Corporation was awarded the contract from the DOL.”

    The key thing here is the TEF was nonprofit! MTC is a for-profit corporation. And they have gotten too comfortable in their sole position in 18 years since they took over management of Gary.

    The checks and balances of MTC are too loose, and there is too much latitude given MTC to not disclose how they operate…they are protected by the very organistions they manage, including Job Corps. That is too close to the problem.

    It’s time for disclosure and rooting out corruption. With MTC in place since 2000, that’s a career span for many people…comfort and security. No wonder they are squawking – they act entitled!!

  7. According to GAO website the appeal for MTC to run Gary Job Corps was “Dismissed” what does that mean for the current employees and administration

  8. Concerned: What is the web link to the GAO statement of “dismissed appeal”? Trying to find it.

  9. Indeed.com just posted 129 job titles by yet another national management contractor, apparently vying for the Gary JCC role. ResCare is the newest name in the hat, it appears. What in the world is going on out there at Gary JCC? The cockroaches are scrambling; MTC is fussing that they think they are owed the contract, Adams & Associates was awarded the new contract before MTC’s contract ran out, MTC “disputes” the award to A & A (per Randolph Goodman, Community Business Liaison for MTC) and were kicked off the campus, and now the name ResCare pops up. The kids are the losers in all this, the very population these clowns say they care about. What a mess!!! Oh, I wonder what shells have been turned over to reveal secrets of the for-profit contractor?!!

    Anyone who still works at Gary – what’s going on??

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