Company With Political Ties Is Sole Bidder on Jail Contract

By SAM DOLNICK
Published: July 28, 2011

Officials in Essex County, N.J., announced Thursday that only one company had bid on a contract to run a 450-bed immigration detention center that federal officials would like to turn into a model for such facilities across the country.

The sole bidder was an affiliate of Community Education Centers, whose executives have close political ties to Gov. Chris Christie and the Essex County executive, Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that the county had appeared to favor Community Education in the process of issuing the contract, though its record in housing immigrant detainees was troubled.

The county had told the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that the company was likely to get the contract, and that other bidders had not been actively sought, as they often are for government contracts.

The Essex County contract is likely to be worth $8 million to $10 million annually. County officials said the contracting process was fair and open to any company. Mr. Christie’s office said the governor had played no role in the process.

The county’s counsel had said he expected as many as 30 companies to express interest in bidding. But some advocacy groups for immigrants had criticized the contracting process, saying it was heavily tilted toward Community Education.

And on Thursday, the deadline for bidding, the county said only the Community Education affiliate had submitted a bid.

Community Education and its executives have been major donors to Mr. DiVincenzo, the county executive. Community Education’s senior vice president, William J. Palatucci, is a confidant of Mr. Christie, who is an ally of Mr. DiVincenzo.

Even before the bidding deadline on the contract, Community Education was telling advocacy groups that Delaney Hall, the company’s Newark facility, was likely to be selected as the site for the immigration detention center. This week, the company and federal immigration officials even gave immigrant advocates a tour of the facility.

Community Education housed immigrant detainees in Delaney Hall in 2008, but the government penalized the company and abruptly ended the program after a detainee escaped from custody.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/nyreg ... tract.html