Idaho countersues in broadband case

BOISE - Even as two vendors from the now-defunct Idaho Education Network are suing the state of Idaho in federal court seeking payment of unpaid bills from the IEN, the state has filed a lawsuit in state court against the vendors, seeking a judgment from the court that the state doesn’t have to pay up, and actually is owed back all payments it made under the now-void contract.

The IEN was a broadband network linking high schools across the state; the $60 million contract went to two politically connected vendors who had been big givers to Gov. Butch Otter’s campaigns. It was a lawsuit from another firm, Syringa Networks, which was cut out of the project when the state awarded it, that got the original contract award declared illegal, shutting down the IEN. Since then, Idaho school districts have contracted for their own broadband services at millions in savings.

The state’s lawsuit contends that the lawsuits from the two vendors, Education Networks of America and CenturyLink, against the state in federal court are improper under the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which deals with sovereign immunity of states, “so the disputes between the state and defendants will be resolved in this action.”

It also quotes a 1990 Idaho Supreme Court decision saying the state has an interest in enforcing its competitive bidding laws “thereby to safeguard public funds and prevent favoritism, fraud and extravagance in their expenditure,” and a 1916 Idaho Supreme Court case that stated “there is a strong public policy against the enforcement of governmental contracts that violate competitive bidding laws,” and that to allow a vendor to be paid for work done under an illegally issued contract “would emasculate this public policy.”

You can read the state’s full complaint here.