Another Version of ‘Pay to Play’
When the state had to bid an $18 million contract to purchase office supplies, it hired the consulting company Accenture and paid them $300,000 to evaluate the bids.
However, according to the News and Observer, Accenture, the state’s consultant, has also been paid millions of dollars by Office Depot (for work unrelated to
Want to guess who ended up with the
Accenture was also the state’s consultant when it awarded the multi-billion dollar State Health Care Plan’s Pharmacy Benefits Management Contract. At that time, Accenture had been criticized – in other states – for doing exactly what has happened here on the contract awarded to Office Depot. For advising state agencies to award contracts to corporations that were Accenture’s clients.
Now, the News and Observer reports, a state judge has ruled the Office Depot contract was awarded improperly. Judge Beecher Gray said, “What I see here is an appearance of impropriety.”
Why would the state hire a company which had Office Depot as a client – to help evaluate an $18 million contract Office Depot was bidding on? Perhaps what the newspapers have discovered is another new version of ‘pay to play.’
Another Version of ‘Pay to Play’
When the state had to bid an $18 million contract to purchase office supplies, it hired the consulting company Accenture and paid them $300,000 to evaluate the bids.
However, according to the News and Observer, Accenture, the state’s consultant, has also been paid millions of dollars by Office Depot (for work unrelated to
Want to guess who ended up with the
Accenture was also the state’s consultant when it awarded the multi-billion dollar State Health Care Plan’s Pharmacy Benefits Management Contract. At that time, Accenture had been criticized – in other states – for doing exactly what has happened here on the contract awarded to Office Depot. For advising state agencies to award contracts to corporations that were Accenture’s clients.
Now, the News and Observer reports, a state judge has ruled the Office Depot contract was awarded improperly. Judge Beecher Gray said, “What I see here is an appearance of impropriety.”
Why would the state hire a company which had Office Depot as a client – to help evaluate an $18 million contract Office Depot was bidding on? Perhaps what the newspapers have discovered is another new version of ‘pay to play.’