The scent of cronyism in contractor selection for
local public housing construction surrounds yet another Kansas public housing
project for seniors, according to a HUD Inspector General’s audit of the Topeka
Housing Authority use of federal stimulus dollars to build Tennessee Town II.
The Topeka agency received a total of $12 million in Recovery Act funding, and
of that amount $833,000.00 was designated for construction of 16 elderly
housing units at Tennessee Town II. According to the IG Audit Report, the
process for selection of a private developer for construction of Tennessee Town
II was not documented at all in writing, and there was no identification of
selection criteria for the builder, or the reasons supporting the final choice.
All the Authority would tell the IG was that the
developer was chosen on the basis of conferring with other local housing
authorities and then with two potential developers identified in that process.
The Topeka Housing Authority claimed it does not have a checklist of
procurement policies for its staff to follow. Nevertheless, the agency was able
to use public bidding and written award criteria to document contractor
selection for its much larger Echo Ridge construction project.
Could it be that local officials thought that by
sending out written RFP’s for the big job, they could cover up their cronyism
in awarding the little one to their buddies?
