BWC Mishandled IT Contract, Inspector General Says

Wednesday, November 6, 2019 | 0

The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation and another agency violated state purchasing laws by allowing an information technology contractor to sub out work, and by not properly advertising for bids on the projects, the state inspector general said.

Inspector General
Randall Meyer

In a report released last week and reported by the Columbus newspaper, Inspector General Randall Meyer said the BWC and the Department of Administrative Services hired Ardent Technologies, of Dayton, for work in 2015 through 2018. The company hired out-of-state contractors who then hired consultants to do the work.

Ardent kept almost $92,000 of the $614,600 contract, but performed little actual work, the report said. The subcontractors kept about half of what was left and paid the consultants the other half.

State employees who managed the contracts also failed to publicize that the contract was available, and restricted notices to a select group of vendors, the inspector general said. The BWC also extended the contract with Ardent without determining if the work could be done in-house.

The inspector general recommended that the agencies review the conduct of the employees and determine if they should be disciplined.

A Bureau of Workers’ Compensation spokesman also said agency officials were reviewing the report. Other state officials said changes have already been made on purchasing policies.

The report was the latest from the inspector general, after questions were raised by the Columbus Dispatch newspaper. The paper in 2017 reported that more than $17 million in no-bid contracts for IT services had been steered to a favored group of contractors, in violation of state regulations.

The inspector general reported in October that the BWC also did not adequately monitor $193,000 in grant funding for university research into workplace safety.