Charleston Flip-Flops, then Flops
Charleston Flip-Flops, then Flops
Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 4:57 PM
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This story is very convoluted but I will try to make it simple. For 19
years
Charleston County has used the American firm Affiliated Computer
Services
(ACS) to run their computers. In a major flip-flop they fired ACS in
order
to hire the Indian owned company Baton Rouge International (BRI).
Recently
the county formally approved a $17.2 million, five-year contract with
BRI.
The county chose BRI because they bid $5 million less than ACS. The
final
agreement included a $2 million payment to pay BRI to run their
computers so
the net savings is more like $3 million.
Council members knew that BRI hires foreign workers, but it's not clear
if
they understood the enormous numbers of H-1Bs they employ. At any rate
these
facts weren't enough to discourage them to go with ACS. A check with the
LCA
Database reveals that BRI has filed at least 451 LCAs for a total of
29,828
H-1Bs. ACS has about 70 LCAs registered in the database so they hire far
fewer H-1Bs than BRI. BRI could easily underbid ACS by using their huge
H-1B
staff. Choosing BRI guarantees that foreign programmers will design and
control the computer systems used by the Charleston County government.
Another guarantee is that 47 local workers that work for ACS will be
replaced by H-1Bs.
ACS did some heavy lobbying and managed to get the contract back, but
then
the council flip-flopped after a couple of days. County council members
clashed and had some heated debates about the merits of replacing U.S.
workers with lower-paid foreigners on visas. Finally the council decided
that saving $3 million dollars by using BRI was the most important
consideration. Political correctness was the rule as some of the council
said that they didn't want to be accused of discriminating against a
foreign
company.
The council totally ignored warnings that using foreign workers with a
foreign owned firm is a bad security risk. Now BRI will have complete
control over the county's computers and all the private information that
is
processed - all to save a few million dollars. Once again saving money
by
using indentured labor is more important than keeping American jobs.
County Re-Employs Indian Firm:
Charleston reverses course again on computer contract
By Arlie Porter
of the Post and Courier Staff
The Charleston Post and Courier
Friday, 12 April 2002. Front Page.
(Note: the page has no direct link on the web. To view the original, go
to
http://www.charleston.net/archives/index.html
and fill in as keywords County AND Computer and click as year 2002, and
fill
in as publication date 04/12/02. Their are other articles about this if
you
don't enter a publication data)
Charleston County Council members reversed themselves yet again
Thursday,
deciding to hire an Indian-owned company to run the county's computers a
week
after firing it.
After weeks of controversy, council voted to retract its April 2 vote to
fire
Baton Rouge International and will instead give the firm a five-year,
$17.2
million contract. That ends the county's contract with an American
company
with
47 local employees that had fought to retain the contract it had held
for 19
years.
Council members did not publicly explain their vote Thursday, but
afterward,
they said several reasons led to their change of heart, including
concerns
of
discriminating against a foreign company, political pressure and
threats,
and
BRI's last-minute efforts to answer their questions about wages and
retention of
local jobs.
Members also said the vote had been all but agreed to before the public
meeting
and was meant to end a bitter political fight that pitted a local
company
against a foreign one that offered cheaper and better service.
"It's over," said Councilman A.D. Jordan. "It's time to move on. I'm
tired
of
the nastiness. The threats. Threats of political reasons, of not being
American."
"I don't feel that morally and ethically, we had a cause to terminate
them,"
added Councilwoman Toi Estes.
The county's five-month search for a company to run the computer system
drew
two
formal proposals, BRI's and another from Affiliated Computer Systems,
the
American company that now holds the contract. BRI's bid was $5.5 million
lower,
and a county evaluation committee also said BRI was more competent than
ACS.Council members voted to hire BRI, and a contract was signed. Four
days
later, without explanation, council fired the firm.
On Thursday, council members voted unanimously to retract the decision
made
last
week and are expected to confirm the contract with BRI at a specially
called
meeting today.
ACS officials said they were surprised and disappointed by the vote and
for
not
getting a chance to address council as they requested. Michael McKenzie,
ACS
senior vice president, said the company would lower its bid to BRI's
amount
to
protect local jobs.
BRI officials were pleased, saying that the merit, price and quality of
their
bid ultimately prevailed. But they also were more guarded than when they
were
when first awarded the contract.
"We've been congratulated before," joked Gene Sweeney, a BRI spokesman.
From the initial vote, the computer contract was controversial, with
ACS
employees in tears over losing the job and company supporters and
lobbyists
fighting the decision.
At one point, Council Chairman Tim Scott expressed disgust at the racial
allegations against BRI, ranging from its hiring practices to concerns
of
turning over the county's computers to a foreign company.
Since Tuesday, a BRI spokesman has met with five council members, and
the
company had hinted at a lawsuit over the contract.
Scott, who called council members to discuss the BRI vote before the
meeting,
said council members changed their minds after BRI answered their
questions
about wages and hiring practices.
Another councilman, who asked not to be named, said Republican Party
officials
had lobbied council to approve the BRI contract.
Jordan, however, said the party itself was split over BRI and the
contract.
"Both sides have been heavily lobbying us," he said.
Councilman Barrett Lawrimore acknowledged that politics played a role,
but
he
also cited his concerns over rejecting a signed contract without reason.
"I didn't feel that we should be discriminating against citizens
authorized
to
come in the country," he said, referring to a federal program used by
BRI in
which foreigners are offered visas to fill high-paying jobs in computer
technology.
BRI has said that it hopes to hire 14 or 15 ACS employees and that it
can't
be
sure how many foreign workers will be assigned to handle the contract.
Arlie Porter covers Charleston County. Contact him at
porter@postandcourier.com
or [telephone number deleted].
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