Rhode Island Governor Asks Audit Bureau To Review Capital Records And Vehicle Emissions Contracts

Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri today formally asked the state Bureau of Audits to review two expired state contracts that together cost Rhode Island taxpayers millions of unnecessary dollars. The Governor asked for a review of the state’s previous contract with Capital Records Management, which provides record storage services for the state, and the state’s previous vehicle emissions testing contract with Applus Technologies Inc.

Both these contracts were subsequently put to public bid by the Carcieri administration, saving millions of dollars for the State of Rhode Island.

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In a May 4th letter to Bureau of Audits Chief H. Christopher DerVartanian, Governor Carcieri noted that both contracts were negotiated by previous administrations.

The $1 million per year Capital Records contract began in the early 1990’s and was not competitively re-bid for approximately 15 years. When the Department of Administration recently re-bid that contract, they reduced the cost of the services to $250,000 per year, for a total savings of $750,000 per year or 75 percent.

“It now seems clear that taxpayers were forced to overpay Capital Records by a total of more than $11 million over a 15 year period,” Governor Carcieri wrote to DerVartanian. “I would like the Bureau of Audits to ascertain why this contract was extended without being publicly bid for so many years, and why the state was overpaying by so much money.”

The Governor’s letter also noted that Senator Frank Ciccone has been significantly involved in the Capital Records contract. The Governor delivered several documents to the Bureau of Audits showing Senator Ciccone’s direct and personal participation in the decision to extend the contract without a competitive bid in December 2000.

“That decision has cost Rhode Island taxpayers $750,000 each year since 2001,” Carcieri wrote.

More recently, Senator Ciccone introduced a bill extremely late in the 2006 legislative session that would have provided Capital Records with a distinct advantage in keeping the old contract, after it had already been put out to bid by the Carcieri administration.

Governor Carcieri also asked for a review of the state vehicle emissions contract, which was held by Applus Technologies until the state put it, too, out for public bid. As a result of that decision, the state we will be able to lower the testing fee from $47 to $39, saving $15 million over the next five years.

“These two contracts have generated serious and legitimate concerns regarding past practices in the awarding of state contracts,” Governor Carcieri wrote. “It is important that these concerns be reviewed so they can either be addressed or, if unfounded, put to rest in the public mind. These contracts – and the costs incurred by Rhode Island taxpayers to fund them – were either the result of impropriety or incompetence. It is important we determine which.”

Source: Rhode Island Governor