Prison Bidder Has Other Woes Company That Lost Idaho Bid Has Problems In New Mexico
The company building two prisons in New Mexico and complaining about losing a large prison contract in Idaho has hired three subcontractors for the New Mexico jobs that are not in good standing with that state, according to a published report.
Wackenhut Corp.’s development arm hired the Albuquerque companies in September to work on the $61 million prison projects that the Florida-based corporation is paying to build and will privately operate under contracts with Lea and Guadalupe counties.
Wackenhut spokesman Bill Farnum told The Albuquerque Tribune that he was not aware of the companies’ problems with the state but would talk to them.
By state law, a corporation operating in New Mexico must be registered with the State Corporation Commission and have a certificate allowing it to legally operate.
Southwest Fire Protection Inc., Melendez Concrete and Chava Trucking have administrative violations with the commission that will require filing new paperwork and some fees to clear up, the newspaper reported. Company officers failed to file biannual reports updating corporate information or pay fees.
If the violations are not rectified the subcontractors could eventually lose their corporate status, a commission spokesman said.
Wackenhut is financing the projects, not the state, so it was free to choose the subcontractors it wanted. And Farnum said the three will continue working on the 600-bed facility in Santa Rosa and the 1,200-bed prison in Hobbs.
“These are good people,” Farnum said. “They are very good. Unless people put a gun to my head, these are our people.”
Wackenhut finished second to Corrections Corp. of America, the nation’s largest private prison company, in the bidding to build and operate a new Idaho prison that will start out at 1,200 beds and eventually expand to 3,000.
Although neither Wackenhut nor any of the other also-rans appealed the state’s September decision to give the deal to Corrections Corp., it and at least one other are now contacting legislators to complain that their bids were lower than the winner’s.
But Gov. Phil Batt has indicated he has no plans to intervene in the process that the Legislature set in motion last spring.
xxxx STATE REASONING Idaho officials involved in the process of selecting the prison bid continue to point out that cost was a secondary consideration to the design of the facility. The state could well be forced to take over the facility if the contractor’s operations become unsuccessful.