Measure to Nullify Alexander Group’s No-bid Contract Moves to Committee

Alexander contract wastes taxpayer dollars, another instance of LePage mismanagement

AUGUSTA — The Maine House on Thursday sent a measure to cancel a failed contract with the controversial consultant Gary Alexander to the State’s Health and Human Services Committee for review.

Governor Paul LePage gave Alexander a $1 million no-bid contract to study the state’s safety net programs and Medicaid expansion. The first report from Alexander’s consulting firm, was a month late and  contained serious flaws, including a $575 million math error.  No new reports from Alexander have been released or made public.

“The Alexander Group Contract should be canceled because it is a waste of taxpayer dollars when Maine doesn’t a have penny to spare,” Rep. Richard Farnsworth of Portland, the House Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee. “Governor LePage claims to be a savvy turn-around specialist from the business world, but what CEO would keep a $1million contract with a company that’s work is so poor?”

The bill, LD 1794, “An Act to Cancel the No-Bid Alexander Group Contract to Produce Savings in Fiscal Year 2014,” in order to prevent further waste of taxpayer dollars.  The administration has paid  the failed contractor $378,000 total, according to payment records from the non-partisan Legislature’s Office of Fiscal and Program Review.

The administration is paying for the contract with federal and state dollars designated to help struggling families who are forced to turn to the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

“We cannot sit idly by while Governor LePage takes money meant to feed hungry families and spends it on a flawed political report,” said Senator Margaret Craven of Lewiston, the Senate Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee and co-sponsor of the bill.

On Governor LePage’s watch, the Department of Health and Human Services has been plagued by  mismanagement and incompetence that has hurt the people of Maine and the economy.

In recent months, the LePage administration lost $20 million in federal funding for Riverview Psychiatric Center by ignoring federal law, squandered $28 million on a “lame duck” contractor for MaineCare transportation services, is currently under investigation for alleged document shredding at the Maine Centers for Disease Control, and allegedly ignored information about abuse and neglect at daycare centers.

The Health and Human Services Committee will hold a public hearing on the bill in the coming weeks.

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