Pueblog USa
Friday, February 13, 2009
Response -to-a-Response
What are the real facts about this “no bid” deal with NEK? Is the Council really telling us all the details.
Response to a Response
February 8, 2009
Mike, I appreciated your response to my February 6, 2009 email (it was the only one). I received no responses to my January 28 e-mail.
Your response answered some of my questions but left many unanswered concerning both the NEK and El Centro Del Quito Sol situations.
My understanding NEK has been using the honor farm since 2003 with or without the knowledge of the City and not paying for the use of the facility. Is this true?
It is also my understanding that NEK has been under contract with government agencies to supply training services. In the competitive bidding process the cost of supplying this service must have included a facility to meet the requirements of the contract(s). It appears to me that Pueblo has been in fact subsidizing NEK since 2003. The picture that I am receiving is that NEK is not necessarily the visionary angel as described but possibly a greedy profit motivated company that is attempting to take advantage of Pueblo. I suspect that if NEK did not have use of the honor farm they would either lose their contract(s) and/or become much less profitable. Just think, if NEK did not have use of the honor farm, they would have had to have their own land with their own improvements.
I wonder how many thousands of dollars the use of the honor farm has already saved NEK. Because NEK has government contracts, they are accepting public funds, which translates into the fact that both their contracts and their financials are open to the public. I understand the city has requested their financials. Has NEK been forthcoming in making this information available from the time they started using the honor farm facility? I suspect that NEK needs the use of the honor farm far more than we need NEK managing the facility and this is one reason why the management of the facility should have gone out for bid in the first place.
Submitted by,
Ted Freeman