The Department of Corrections is deciding how to proceed after a judge ruled the department must award an electronic monitoring contract to a different vendor. As Sascha Cordner reports, the court’s decision is the result of a dispute between two companies that specialize in tracking offenders through GPS ankle bracelets.
Pro Tech Monitoring has worked with the Department of Corrections before in monitoring people under house arrest as well as sex offenders, and the company expected to renew their contract again. But, when the agency decided to go with the lowest bidder, B.I. incorporated, Pro Tech filed a complaint. They argued B.I. didn’t meet the criteria for the monitoring bid, and a judge agreed. Now, DOC Spokeswoman Ann Howard says they are looking into the judge’s recommendation to go with the second-lowest bidder, Pro Tech:
“We are reviewing and we have 30 days [from the judge’s ruling] to come up with a decision as it relates to that, and that’s what we’re doing at this point.”
In Judge E. Gary Early’s ruling, he said B.I. withheld information regarding other government contracts and failed to disclose possible problems, which gave them an advantage over other vendors. B.I. is affiliated with private prison management company GEO Group, one of the potential vendors for a failed plan to privatize South Florida prisons.
