SUPPLY COMPANY SUES STATE OVER DEAL

[Anonymous]

Supply company sues state over deal
CHARLOTTE,
N.C. | A lawsuit challenging the state’s six-year contract for
providing staplers, ink cartridges and paper clips contends North
Carolina decided to overpay for office supplies by as much as $10.8
million.
Lawyers for Broomfield, Colo.-based Corporate Express said
the consulting firm North Carolina hired to guide the state on the
contract had done millions of dollars worth of business for winning
bidder Office Depot in recent years.
Corporate Express said in the
challenge scheduled to be heard by an administrative law judge in
Raleigh on Tuesday that state contracting officials rejected its bid
for the business, which it said was the lowest, in favor of an $18.2
million-a-year contract with Delray Beach, Fla.-based Office Depot.
“Corporate
Express was surprised and disappointed when the entire state government
office supplies contract went to a higher priced supplier,” Hampton
Dellinger, a lawyer representing Corporate Express, said Friday.
State
officials said in court filings in the case filed in January that their
selection process got North Carolina the best deal, not the lowest
price. Lawyers for the state and Office Depot said the bid process
followed the law.
The state “has never awarded a state contract
based on price alone,” state purchasing officer Mike Mangum said in one
deposition.
Lawyers for the state also said it was N.C. officials
and not Accenture, the consulting firm that helped the state structure
the selection process and solicit bids, who decided who got the
contract.
Accenture has a long business relationship with Office
Depot. Since 2003, Office Depot has paid $30 million to Accenture for
projects to help the company manage inventory and overhaul its
merchandising system.
Accenture didn’t disclose that Office Depot is one of its clients, a potential conflict of interest.
Jim
Bard, an Accenture official, said in a deposition that he wasn’t aware
of his company’s ties to Office Depot when he helped the state with the
office supplies bid.
He knew Accenture had a relationship with Staples, another bidder, but didn’t tell state officials.
Corporate
Express argues that it should have received additional points in the
state’s evaluation for guaranteeing next-day delivery anywhere in the
state.
Office Depot guaranteed two-day delivery.

[Author]

April 24, 2006 at 10:14 AM